Keeping (and Telling) the Past

The American Academy of Poets and their wonderful Poets.org introduce here the work of an enslaved South Carolina potter, David Drake, his inscriptions on his pots, and poets reactions to them. Drake, born ca. 1800, reminds us that recordkeeping revolves around what medium is at hand,  and what technologies we have for telling and documenting. 

Here is one example:  

I, made this Jar, all of cross

If, you don’t repent, you will be, lost =
 

^{05/03/1862 (Saturday)}

This poem is in the public domain. Reprinted from The Words and Wares of David Drake: Revisiting “I Made This Jar” and the Legacy of Edgefield Pottery (University of South Carolina Press, 2023). 

For the Poets.org introduction to other of David Drake’s work, see here, and for poems inspired by his legacies from Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake, follow these links: 

“Slavery’s Slippery Touch” by P. Gabrielle Foreman
“Deepest Pot” by Glenis Redmond
“Notes in the Margin” by Glenis Redmond
“Jarring” by Glenis Redmond