Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse
Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday
The Two Liberations of Crispus Attucks
First from his master who had
This to say about
The Mulatto Fellow, about 27
Years of Age, named Crispas.
How his hair was short and curl’d
His knees nearer together
Than common, and his bear-skin
Coat light-colored. That his
Britches were made of new
Buckskin, his yard stockings
Blue, his woolen shirt checked.
What he did not see
Is what he did Not See.
The empty space of Crispus.
How like smoke, like nothing,
Like dust he disappeared.
So to write him in—to restore
The It of him, the ad and mug-
Shot payed-for and run. October
2, 1750, Boston Gazette:
Whoever shall take up said
Run-away, and convey him
To his abovesaid Master, shall
Have Ten Pounds, old Tenor
Reward, and all necessary charges
Paid. And all masters of Vessels
And others, are hereby
Cautioned against concealing
Or carrying off said Servant
On Penalty of the Law.
For the weight of him,
For the worth of him,
Who stands presently
Martyr and master
Of his wounded and full
Self, first among men
Before enslavement,
Among them the actual
Unconceptually detained.
Crispus taking the first
Bullet like a 21st century
Black man, like a Black
Man in a car to convey
Him up the freeway.
The way to free.
The way from tyranny.
Danielle Legros Georges (1964-2025) was a poet, translator, and editor who served as Boston’s second poet laureate. She passed away on February 11, 2025. She will be missed by the multitudes of poets, writers and people who she touched.
Her work was supported by fellowships and grants from organizations including the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. Appointed Boston’s Poet Laureate in 2014, she served in the role for four years. Her books of poetry include The Dear Remote Nearness of You (Barrow Street, 2016); Island Heart, translations of the poems of 20th-century Haitian-French poet Ida Faubert (Subpress, 2021); Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters (Pangyrus, 2023); Blue Flare: Three Haitian Poets: Évelyne Trouillot, Marie-Célie Agnant, Maggy de Coster (Zephyr Press, 2024); and Three Leaves, Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story (Beacon Press, 2025). An event celebrating her work will be held at Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive on Sunday, May 4th from 1 – 5 p.m. Please RSVP at daniellememorial.splashthat.
This poem previously appeared at The Red Letter Poems Project and is forthcoming in Acts of Resistance to New England Slavery by Africans Themselves in New England, from Staircase Press.
Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.
— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx