Until the threads of his underwear were imbedded in his skin
No hanging
Just asphalt
This poem is about a young man who was Catholic. Living in Jacksonville, Florida. He had an extramarital affair and the KKK were going to set him straight. Teach him a lesson. My mother, who was 11 at this time, relayed the story of them coming into the church. My aunt would tell about his beating and the threads of his underwear being stuck into his skin. I researched underwear. And yes, they had just become fashionable. This fellow thought he was a cool cat.
The KKK chose to beat him and leave him laying in the street. Down the road on Old Kings Road they were prancing on their horses in full regalia. Lynching.
I do see this as an example of white privilege. I am beginning to understand through the course of conversation that those words have a different meaning to different people. It triggers alien internal contexts inside of us. Pulling dormant concepts to the surface.
I am a Cracker/by birth – A Redneck by Default – And a peace activist through reading, writing and education.
You thought that spirituality was the answer. You pursued. The banker buzzed by in a blur. You felt the dust cake your skin-as as you grew light inside. Friends were friends, but the needy were God.
O-So Robbed. A bathing suit hanging in the dark was too much for a man with lustful thoughts. Gone running down the beach, to be strolled and toiled, in the sun, by a chestnut Lolita . O-So Robbed. A bobbed wire fence ~ an invisible line. That line of demarcation rules. O-So Robbed. Stained glass, you stood in line. The illumination touched depths. You shared in love. O-So Robbed. Brothers Wolf, What! Crazy. Fall and spin, you never win. O-So Robbed. Shoes went away, with diamonds shining, waving good-bye. O-So Robbed. Children not chunky, new to the world. In a cotton field. Yo ho-heave ho. O-So Robbed.
As a happy bear, when Goldilocks arrives, and is in need; make the bed, put on the tea. Relax and enjoy.