“I come by the barn I heard somebody hollering and
I heard some licks like somebody was whipping somebody.”
They was whipping the fourteen year old body of Emmett Till

They gouged out an eye tore off an ear
Cracked his skull bound his body in barbed wire
Dumped him in the Tallahatchie’s muddy flow

An Obituary

Willie Reed has died (I just cried and cried)
When barely eighteen Willie testified
Against the men who did kill Emmett Till

Death is walking with me
Seeing hearing knowing
What I might otherwise miss
A connoisseur’s five senses
Perhaps even a sixth
For goodness truth and beauty

And their opposite

I am striding toward death
Across the meadow
Through the trees
Along the road
Being with my body
Asking about its day

I am reaching toward death
Touching toes
Stretching this torso
One hundred leg lifts
Two hundred sit ups
Stupid looking trunk twists

Daily Exercise

I am unfolding toward death
Taking a deep breath
Body bending
Finally feeling
Hard places open and
Crimped places crack