Over yonder, God was watching us. He farm the land. We grow like cotton. He knowed what we was doing. But nuthin' don't change here in Mississippi. A hot night that's all it was when I saw his Face. Crosses was burning somewhere with white folk dressing up in their sheets reminding us of our place here like we don't already know it. Right now, they doing what they've always done: They banging on whatever they could get their filthy hands on playing banjoes and fiddles at KingsTavern while drinking those devilish spirits from stills. They stomp their feet, sing like ugly hogs knee deep in the mud, and dances with each other. But things are melting like butter 'round here. The wooden shacks nailed together. The outhouses smelling to high Heavens. The motor carriages that had just started coming down the highway. The fine horses we still had that got spooked for no reason - they was all dripping like one of 'em fancy European paintings, not yet done.
They knowed what was coming. I mean, the horses know when an earthquake comes before it hits. Heck, even the ladies' were melting, too. Their heads, arms, breasts and backsides jiggling 'n writhing. The Holy Spirit got hold of 'em. You needed a deaf ear. Even the Southern Magnolias was melting into pools of whites, greens, and yellows. God bless 'em. The green grass was burnt crisp, too. The South was a damn crucible where Lucifer and his hellish legions ran the roost where they lynched some for looking the wrong way. I once saw them with out of the corner of my eyes when I was working in a field of cotton. I wasn't even a man back then, just a terrible scarecrow that only said, "Yessire, lemme git dat for y'all."
All's I wanted was to be a man.
To guide my own Ship to 'nuther shore.
Is that too much?
But God listens. He knows. He stay working. The gray men flourish like weeds here. There's only tiny patches of green grass growing in them tormented fields. And the clouds are blowing across this horrible place whispering terrible things. Can't you hear 'em?
"Where's you at?"
"I'm heres."
"They crazy."
"I knows."
"Somethin' needs to be done."
"That's just the way it bees."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
