Poetry combines reclaimed Black history, memories and stories
Sylvia D. Hamilton’s deep dive into history – in search of what is missing and who is absent – led her to write a collection of poems imagining a new life for a Black woman who ran away from a slave owner in 1772.
Years ago, Hamilton found a Halifax newspaper advertisement from Sept. 1, 1772, which sought the capture of a “Negroe girl” named Thursday.
When she escaped, Thursday was described in the ad as wearing “… a red cloth petticoat, a red baize bed gown, and a red ribbon about her head.”
John Rock of Halifax offered a two-dollar reward for her return. She was recaptured and Rock ordered Thursday to be sold in his 1776 will. John Bishop bought her for less than she was valued.
“I’ve been walking with her, wondering what may have happened after she was captured and eventually left in a will,” writes Hamilton in the notes section of her new collection of poetry called Tender (Gaspereau Press). “She represents resistance and the unyielding desire for self-determination so evident in the lives of Black/african women. I imagined a new name and life for her.”
The poems in the first section of Tender are grouped under the title, Thursday Forever African Book of Testimony. Hamilton imagines Thursday writing about herself and recording the true stories of some Black Refugees who came to Nova Scotia following the War of 1812.
“I secreted away from Gull Island./ Baptized myself Thursday Forever African, a new name borrowed/ from Forever Bay, sheltered and protected there. With me two daughters,/ a son. I tell none how or from where. To myself a promise: no man /would oversee my body ever again.”
Hamilton drew from archival records for the names of the multiple speakers in the poems. Judy Hamilton, a medicine woman in Halifax, tells Thursday Forever African her story, which is recorded in the Book of Testimony on Aug. 1, 1833.
“I, July Hamilton, of Preston, came to Nova Scotia aboard the vessel Marlborough in 1815. A loyal Woman of Colour, I nursed soldiers in the American War with Canada. For that service I took my freedom. On the resting place of my gone parents, I swear these words I write, given me by all named, are true and honest. False claims against us are the rightful property of them who brought us here. JH”
In Tender, Hamilton doesn’t stay rooted in the past, she also moves to the present day to chronicle the experiences of Black people, especially of Black women, in their quest for self-determination and true equality. As a filmmaker and writer, she uses her documentary filmmaking skills to combine reclaimed historical accounts, memories and stories to explore tough issues such as intergenerational trauma, racial violence, and the loss of children.
She isn’t afraid to engage honestly with the past, believing that it’s essential to building a better future.
RAGS OF NIGHT IN OUR MOUTHS
Margo Wheaton’s poetry collection, Rags of Night in Our Mouths (Mcgillqueen’s University Press) is presented in a variation of an old Arabic verse form called the ghazal. Originally dealing with loss and romantic love, medieval Persian poets such as Rumi and Hafiz embraced the ghazal. The form consists of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, as well as an intricate rhyme scheme.
In Rags of Night in Our Mouths, Wheaton, who now lives in Halifax, returns to her childhood home in New Brunswick; at the kitchen table, she recalls the damage done by her father’s and stepmother’s alcoholism and remembers the life that once existed within the rooms of the house and the yard outside. They are now abandoned and neglected.
She drifts around the place, weaving together fragments of memory of a family haunted by trauma, loneliness and heartbreak and witnessing the lingering presence of “generations of black moods fill the kitchen like smoke.”
Poetry becomes a way to speak about the past, the memories. “Wanted to give you something of some of the stories here: can’t think of the details;/ only the rhythms,/ the songs,” writes Wheaton.
In the collection, she also draws on her family’s deep roots in the Tantramar Marsh area and celebrates the marsh’s natural beauty; she explores the enduring qualities of the landscape while acknowledging that the fragile environment is at risk of development. “On a dirt path through woods scheduled to be destroyed/ to build a massive RV park.”
Wheaton leaves the reader to think about memory and how it flows into the present moment with an image of “the ageless pounding of the water – the rhythm of its burgeoning speech.”
SHANTI FIGHTS FOR HER RIGHTS
A new teen novel highlights the issue of illegal child marriage in India. Shanti Fights for Her Rights (OC Publishing) by Dartmouth-based author Marcia Barss follows 14-year-old Shanti who lives in a village in eastern India, where her parents work in the rice fields. She attends school in a nearby town and hopes to become a teacher. While she is home on vacation, her mother gives birth. Her father tells her to leave school to care for her baby sister. He also plans for her to be married, despite the law against young girls being forced into marriage.
“I wrote this story to encourage and support girls in claiming their right to an education,” said Barss in a news release. “Educating and empowering girls is the impetus to ending child marriage.”
Barss lived most of her childhood in India, where her parents worked. She attended Acadia University and after working as an early childhood educator in Ontario, she returned to Nova Scotia. A few years ago, she returned to India for a visit and stayed with friends working at Bridge of Hope, an organization, which among other services provides children from rural communities with vocational training. Her experiences in India and talking with girls who were determined to get an education provided inspiration for her book.
JAMPOLIS COTTAGE
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia now has an inspiring place for writers to write.
Jampolis Cottage, a 230-year-old house located on the shores of the Minas Basin in Avonport, was a gift from the U.s.-based Jampolis Living Trust. The house will be used primarily for writers’ residencies.
“With residencies at the Jampolis Cottage, writers from Nova Scotia and beyond will have an opportunity to create great works of art that will enhance the literary landscape of our province,” Sean Paul Bedell, president of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, said in a news release.
The house was once the summer home of Neil Peter Jampolis and Maritza Jane Reisman Jampolis. They were scenic and lighting designers who worked on and off Broadway, and also at the Atlantic Theatre Festival.
In the future, small workshops, writing retreats, and creative writing day camps for kids will be offered at the cottage. The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia plans to partner with Acadia University, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, and other local groups to establish Jampolis Cottage as a vital spot for arts, culture, and community.