From Runagate, a collection of poems that draw on archival records of chattel slavery. The book will be published this month by Duke University Press.

jack (and paul)

Escaped by breaking the Jail of the Parish o Jefferson, on the night of Tuesday 11th inst, an American Negro named Jack, aged about 45 years; who has lost his toes. Also, a French Negro named Paul, aged about 27 years, with large eyes and prominent features. He says that he belongs to Madam Bourgeois.

—George de Passau, sheriff, Parish of Jefferson, Louisiana, March 14, 1828

born a slave
I believed I had
no soul

this one life
I would not
die a slave

supper hour
I tied overseer to
the whipping post

evening heat
I put him under
the lash and ran

caught and maimed
nor would I die
in the jail cell

we hear faint
sounds of revel
in the lit streets

like birds to song
thereabouts
we wished to be