CANNIBALISM
Coloreds were here before these
United States were even dreamed
of. We have always been on this
land. That's why I don't bother
about what Booker T. Washington
says. I'm a pure-blooded American
of the first rate & I don't need
to cast down a bucket unless there's
no indoor toilet. After the Great
Storm hit, the Times called us "black
ghouls," cannibals eating coloreds
& whites like Sunday chicken.
They said we left babies in the street
just so we could take a dead man's
shoes. They said we sawed off
fingers at the fat meat for rings.
I was there, so I know what's true:
whole families of coloreds shot
down by whites. "Protecting the dead,"
the sheriffs said, sending buckshot
at any colored in sight. Those
dead people didn't need any more
protection than the mud & rocks
covering them. After the storm
moved through, me & the other
Galveston boys slept where we could,
spent our days searching for anybody
alive. We got paid whiskey & potatoes.
We found dead mothers & sons,
dead cats & skulls cracked
like teacups under the wet wood
& rock. That's all the storm left.