February 11, 2005
Sturdy robust women
weave sweet grass baskets
in rocking chairs
on the white splintered porch
sipping sweet tea
so cold
it hurts their lips.
Crickets drone
to the rhythm
of their russet colored fingers.
The secret of a craft
their ancestors
kept hidden
from their blonde haired masters.[1]
The curled edges
of each fold
remind them
of a time
when rice fields[2]
stretched to the edges
of their great-grandmothers’ world.
It’s been over
one hundred years.
Still tired dark hands
weave the baskets
and pale debutantes
own them.
It’s time to stop selling the baskets
and keep some for themselves.
[1] Since the early nineteenth century, African American women in South Carolina have been known for their sweet grass baskets which they sold to whites to get spending money during the days of the peculiar institution (slavery). Sweet grass baskets can still be purchased throughout the Carolinas. For economic and cultural reasons, the secret of how these remarkable women construct this craft has never been revealed to whites.
[2] Rice was a staple crop on plantations in South Carolina.