Katie Bickham’s poems, set on a Louisiana plantation from 1811 through 2005, speak through the imagined voices of slaves, masters, mistresses, servants, and children. Focused on events that take place in a single room within the plantation home, Belle Mar, she offers an unflinching portrayal of the atrocities that form an undeniable part of Louisiana’s history. The fully rounded characters she evokes allow readers to contemplate the social forces that shaped a slave-holding society and perpetuated injustices long after abolition.

 

Tell me, Mother, how to remember you,

what name to call you and what to absolve.

Tell me how to live on this land. How

many times must I scour and sun the long line

of our lives until the water runs clean.

—from “Parlor 2012”