These poems are part of the special section, “Poems of U.S. History”, reflecting on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence selected by editors Carolivia Herron, Summer Tate, and Robert Bettmann. You can read more about the section on the Day Eight website here.
Patsey and Jane
Patsey, daughter of Flora, and Jane Dunbar, daughter of Ann and Robert Dunbar, Oakley Grove Plantation, Adams County, Mississippi, about 1790
Patsey picked Jane
just like she picked who’d play
tag on a Sunday. Young Mistress sat up there on the steps
working something in her hands with a piece of yarn.
Not much older than her brother but the kind
to play quiet. Plenty of children
in that big house, but she liked to stay
to herself. Could be a little offish
but when she got big enough
for the older boys to be looking, Patsey saw
her pa would be looking for another pair of eyes
to stay close. So, on a day when the weather was hot
and the crops laid-by, Patsey asked Jane
could she wrap her yarn. And she said yes
and her mother saw them like that
sitting out under the pecan trees
and when her girl turned 12, Old Mistress
picked Patsey for her.
Born Twice
Jane Brown, enslaved at Woodlawn Plantation, Jefferson County, Mississippi, March 1, 1867
It’ll be Peter who keeps with it.
Where he comes from, when he was born
and when the others are hungry. This morning she looks at him
straight on. Sees he’s got his eyes on her
and remembering the day, March 1. Fifteen years
today you were born: 1852. After dinner
she tells him again, makes him say the day
back to her so she knows he knows he’s most grown—
no child anymore. She wants him to live.
Keep up with his years. Cholera looking in through the window
of the house. Reaching in for William.
Licking her dress sleeve.
Anne Bucey grew up in Georgia, graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in history and earned an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. Recent publications include five historic persona poems for Arkansas Review and the poem, “Canebrake” which appeared in Broad River Review and which was a finalist for the Ron Rash Award.
Featured image star athena, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
