Two Poems by Margaret Bleichman
A Fresh Take on Historic Integrity
Boone Hall Plantation and partnering architects
are proud to share that the Cotton Gin House
built in the 1850s for cotton processing
will keep its original brick exterior
to maintain its historic integrity
but will be completely renovated inside
The remodeled Cotton Gin House features
a new visitor center, gift shop, event space
a museum highlighting centuries of history
The finished product will add
to the continued history of Boone Hall
Boone Hall Historic Gin House
newly restored, a fresh take on history
provides any event a timeless backdrop
With views overlooking award-winning gardens
The Gin House, perfectly perched
in the center of the action of Boone Hall
Perfect for a party of 80 with sit down
up to 100 standing
We require an insurance policy
$1,000,000 worth of general liability
Take the Boone Hall experience to the next level
Or: How to White-Wash History
the corporate descendants of Boone Hall enslavers
where enslaved labor toiled to enrich Charleston County
with thousands of bricks made by unpaid enslaved hands
as we are the original experts of polite façade
according to our unassailable definition of integrity
we’ve removed inconvenient and unpleasant reminders
ghosts of kidnapped Africans and their children
to earn a generous profit on our “Lost Cause” mythology
designed for the comfort of the white visitor
daily and continuing violations to centuries of harm
and ensure the continued erasure of Black history
a house of deprivation, starvation and violence
as the actual history is too much of a downer
perfect for revisionist “Tara” fantasies
where barefoot children picked cotton dawn to dusk
like spiked iron collars placed upon enslaved shoulders
that was slapping, kicking, punching and whipping
on newly polished floors covering blood-stained ground
for a true fake experience, stand 14 hours without break
much as our forebears insured their human property
tho’ we accept no accountability for our past brutality
help us help you put as many levels as possible
between Boone Hall and its true history
Note: The left column contains direct quotes from local news and Boone Hall Plantation websites.
Etymology of the Erased
with deep respect to the Nipmuc Nation
Nipmuc: nippe– ‘fresh water’, amaug– ‘fish taken by the hook’ ̶ Algonquian
Fresh water people flourish
call Nippenet home for twelve thousand years
cherish the lion, black birch and white pine
thank Manitoo for abundant waters
for largemouth bass and rainbow trout
and pray for all living creatures
reservare: ‘to keep back’ ̶ Latin
Wash ashores seep inland, ghostly,
convert forest to property
extinguish the lion
convert Nipmuc people to Christian
‘Praying Indians’ (pray or die)
then enslave or slaughter them, anyway
and imprison the rest on Deer Island, Boston
no water, no food, no shelter, in winter
Few survive, some escape
Quaben: ‘place where many waters meet’ ̶ Nipmuc
Snow-melt rivers tumble down
a ring of mountainsides, sustain
a fertile valley, fill a modest lake
Boston dwellers thirst for more, claim the basin
as their own, dam the rivers, flood and drown
settler farms and four whole towns a hundred miles away
Qunnonoo: ‘mountain lion’ ̶ Nipmuc
Fresh qunnonoo scat confirms
Dakota lion’s eastward trek
from Black Hills to the Quabbin rim
Waban: ‘the wind, the spirit’; a Nipmuc elder of the 1600’s; a suburb of Boston ̶ Nipmuc
Mystery figure glides long and low
through Waban yards, and lopes
past bikes and sand toys, sleek and muscled
its three-foot black-tipped tail
distinctive in the pre-dawn mist
cub or prey dangling from its jaws
Margaret Bleichman is an emerging poet, queer activist and educator with writing in, or forthcoming in, Gyroscope Review, Poets Reading the News, Kitchen Table Quarterly, Fifth Wheel, Fauxmoir, The Dewdrop, and Between Us. Their poetry has won awards in two Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry contests. A software engineer and professor, they helped establish LGBTQ+ health benefits and STEM programs to engage underrepresented students.
“Erased” by Rob Williams via a Creative Commons license.
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