Homage to David Drake, the Potter Poet

by Karen Luke Jackson

Your jars and words traverse centuries
couplets etched in wet clay
hardened by fire as was your life—
a man enslaved who claimed ownership
of his own creations, who never abandoned
his wit or faith. What did your creator
bake into you, what lines, what praise
gave you strength to rise each day,
to turn the wheel, to have your say?

Karen Luke Jackson, author of The View Ever Changing and GRIT, wrote this homage in Eric Steineger’s class after learning about David Drake and watching an award-winning documentary, Discovering Dave: Spirit Captured in Clay. Karen resides in a cottage on a goat pasture in Flat Rock, North Carolina. There she writes, gardens, and accompanies people on their spiritual journeys.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Issue 28 – Spring 2023
Home
- Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor in Chief
  “It’s Only Human”
Interview
- Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator Jennifer McGaha
  With Special Features Editor Janet Moore
  “What’s Next: Building on Firm Foundations”
Nonfiction
- Amy Jane Lynch
  “Walking the Barrel”
- Amanda Burns
  “Remembering Clare: A Love Story”
- Zoe Rhine
  “The Prankster’s Laughter Stone-Skips Across the Lake”
Fiction
- Billie Harper Buie
  “Refugees”
- Pam J. Hecht
  “The Lions”
Poetry
- Judith A. Davis
  “Stopping by a Farmstand on a Summer Afternoon”
- Karen Luke Jackson
  “Open Heart”
- Margaret Bishop
  “Dying to Be Born”
Craft Session
- Bruce Spang
  “Syntax as Style in Poetry:
  The Invisible Craft of an Artful Sentence in Poetry”
Reflection
- Zoe Newton
  “Selective Memory”
Archives
The Great Smokies Review

Elizabeth Lutyens, Editor-in-Chief, Founder
Janet Moore, Special Features Editor
Julie Abbott, Submissions Editor
Patrick Pickering, UNC Asheville Intern
Michael Mauney, Photographer

Jennifer McGaha, Great Smokies Writing Program Coordinator
Lilly Danzis, GSWP Administrative Assistant
Tracey Rizzo, Dean of Humanities, UNC Asheville

The Great Smokies Review is an online publication of The Great Smokies Writing Program, a joint effort of the UNC Asheville departments of Literature and Language, Creative Writing, and the Asheville Graduate Center.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We accept student fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submitted by faculty of the Great Smokies Writing Program and other UNC Asheville writing programs. Submitters will receive a guidelines checklist to complete.

All rights reserved. This publication may be freely distributed only in its entirety and without modification, and only for private use. Excerpts may be reproduced and distributed only by permission, except in the case of quotations for use in reviews and interviews. The creative works published in The Great Smokies Review do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of its staff, The Great Smokies Writing Program, or the University of North Carolina Asheville.

Homage to David Drake, the Potter Poet

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 28 – Spring 2023

Home

Interview

Nonfiction

Fiction

Poetry

Craft Session

Reflection

Archives

The Great Smokies Review