The Quilters of Gee’s Bend


Seems like that old river tied

itself in a knot just to keep

black folks there at Gee’s

Bend while time and fortune

swept on by.


And Master Pettway gave

those folks his name, but

stripped everything else he

could.  Left just scraps,

but they were used to that.


So those hands that hardly

needed something else to do

unraveled their worn-out

world.  Pieced together

remnants of Africa

and raggedy dreams

to make something new.


Let dress tails dance

with britches–heat from

the cotton fields pressed

deep in their seams.

So tired of plowed furrows,

they let their stitches bend

now and then just like

that river.  Nothing perfect,

yet God was in the details.

And the quilters called that

making do and visiting and

keeping warm and pulling up

memories each night,

till one day they were told–

we call that art.

Spiraling into Control

by Alarie Tennille

Table of Contents


Chambered Nautilus

The Inside Story

First Sight

Daddy Would Know

Éléphants Nageurs

Dollhouse

Wild Alice

Natural Order

Vermeer at Home

Since Jeanne d’Arc

Second Grade

Daily Work

The Quilters of Gee’s Bend

Cavalier Manor

The High Cost of Milk

Daddy Hits a Policeman

August Afternoon

A Question of Weather

Tomato Invasion

Bringing Home the Bacon

Letters from Home

Habit

Sisters

Clutter

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