Our Hands Upon (Salem)
Our Hands Upon is a visual poetry project and performance at the May 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival by Alexis Fedorjaczenko.
I found the words for Our Hands Upon in documents from 1692 Salem, including testimony of accusers and the accused in the so-called witch-trials (that echo in today's events, with common elements such as erosion of due process fueled by trauma, social tensions, and self-interest, among other complex factors).
I chose phrases of about 3-5 words and arranged them into a poem structure, keeping spellings as they were and playing with variations/omissions as elements of the poem (see afraid/afrayd, and the symbols that denote a hole in the paper where a word can no longer be read).
Source: Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, Eds. Bernard Rosenthal, et al; Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Source: Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, Eds. Bernard Rosenthal, et al; Cambridge University Press, 2009.
POETRY TEXTILES
I silkscreened poem-lines onto fabric, then sewed the fabric into handkerchiefs.
I speculate that when we use or wear textiles, emotional poem-stains remain — think of your favorite scarf, one you’ve wrapped, draped, cried into, and sweat on, and think of the poetry you’ve left in its threads.
I imagine the women of Salem leaving marks upon their clothing and mending, which might read like the lines of this poem.
OUR HANDS UPON
OUR HANDS UPON
The title references the tactile nature of poetic textiles and speaks to the role of
the individual in a collective, co-creating and subject to social norms and systems of benefit, exclusion, and injury.
the individual in a collective, co-creating and subject to social norms and systems of benefit, exclusion, and injury.
In circular form as printed on the handkerchiefs, the title can be read as:
Upon Our Hands;
Hands Upon Our; and
Our Hands Upon.
