Poetry
ELEGY FOR CHARLIE DAVIS
To Warden Charles Davis,
I’m sorry
for your ignorance
racism
corrupt soul
for whoever did this to you
for the fact that you were white in the 1920’s
Sorry your clean, white hands ever held power
the shape of a whip
dark, bloodied leather
the curve of a back
the scalding skin of a black
Sorry you didn’t die sooner
Sorry you didn’t know the pain
of a whip-induced CRACK
You were a hero to many
When you stuffed those pills
down the dead man’s throat
A hero to twisted white people everywhere
A man of many talents
and one damned secret
I’m proud of you
dead man, I’ll keep it
But to Warden Charles Davis
Fuck you
I am not sorry you’re dead
I’m sorry James Knox is
Fools equate color with feeling
Black is bad
White is good
You are
Free
A fool
Tried and true
Red and blue
This country, your home
Alabama, letting you go
The convict-labor lease system brought him to you
Your country, your home, your Alabama,
not his
Thirty dollar James Knox
Thirty dollar James Knox,
boiled and bruised
Like a poor man’s dinner
Four years later
“Free and scattered about the country”
Coming for to carry them home
Carry you to hell
Swing Low
Sweet Chariot
Warden Charles Davis