David Drake was an enslaved potter-poet from Edgefield, South Carolina. I discovered his pottery and poetry later in life when I was in my fifties. It deeply disturbs me that I was unaware of this talented and visionary poet from South Carolina during my youth and throughout my higher education. Despite the illegality of his actions, he fearlessly inscribed couplets on his pottery. One of his most meaningful verses reads,"I wonder where is all my relation/Friendship to all and every nation." Through this couplet he speaks for the many, then and now. Recognizing the significance of his contributions, I feel compelled to write poems about him and other Black South Carolinians. In this day and age, it is absolutely crucial that we share our stories and ensure they are heard.Glenis Redmond on "Forefather" |
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"A Book of Love Poems for the Homies"
"Olivarez’s commitment to weaving politics, social justice, and personal narrative into his poetry is not surprising: the moment he became interested in poetry was also the moment when he got interested in social justice. In poetry, he heard artists questioning institutional knowledge. 'And it worked the other way too....there was always some form of art, there was always chanting and music, and there was always someone reading a poem.'"
via HARVARD MAGAZINE |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Jennifer Kronovet on Don Mee Choi's DMZ Colony
"'Cruelty and beauty—how do they coexist?' Don Mee Choi asks this question in the middle of her book DMZ Colony. To say that she answers that question is not quite right. What Choi does is harder: she gives us new ways to think it through—she creates a vocabulary, syntax, multiple codes, maps, and sounds so that we can enter specific devastations, see how they weave, like all colonial disasters, backward and forward in time." |
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