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Plantation echoes

Chapter 15: PAWSON JOHNSON AT DINNER.
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About This Book

A short collection of poems written in a period phonetic dialect that evokes rural plantation life and folk-song rhythms. The pieces range from playful and humorous to plaintive and reflective, depicting work, home, music, seasonal change, and communal gatherings through repetition, colloquial idiom, and musical cadence. Many poems adopt a performative voice and narrative vignette form to capture local speech and sentiment. Several passages employ slang and stereotyped language rooted in their historical moment, which modern readers may find offensive.

PAWSON JOHNSON AT DINNER.

He’p you’se’f, mah bruddah,
Jes’ make yo’se’f at home!
’Kaze yo’ am no stranger
To Siss Wiggle Sloam.
Go ’head on dat chicken,
’Kase it tissen skace!
“Doan’ yo’ worry, sistah,
I is in no has’e!
“Lan’ sakes, Sistah Wiggle,
You’ treat me lak er king!
Ha! ha! ’skooze me, sistah,
One mo’ chicken wing!
Tote me few dem waffles,
Chittlins good an’ hot!
Ebbah thing ise eatin’
Trabbles to de spot!
Lawd Gawd! Sistah Wiggle,
I jes’ seed dat possum!
Hiden’ an’ er grinin’
’Hine dat sunflow’r blossom!
’Fo’ I’d let dat possum
Git out o’ mah sight,
Th’ow erside mah Gospel,
To de las’ I’d fight!
Bruddah, kain’t yo’ sortah
Gibb er little toas’?
’Deed I kain’t, Gawd knows it,
Whah dey’s possum roas’!
Feed de lambs, mah Sistah,
Whut de good book say!
Yo’s fulfillin’ Scripshah
Treatin’ me dis way!”