APARTHEID
"You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey
at the same time." Deuteronomy 22:10
"Apart" elders sternly say
"Jebodiah gotta have that wash tub gin"
"It's the written Word you must obey"
sunday sober watch him dip and sway
exalting his Savior "Lawd fo' give me my sins"
"Apart" sacred law is laid
battered blues guitar he played
on rickety steps I'd sit listening
"Apart" righteous deacons pray
his home a shack with floor of clay
"Blin' ol' niggah ain't much fo' vistin'
don' mind though ifn's you stay
Plays my music on the po'ch mos' days
when all's quiet and sun's awarmin'
ain't good fo' much else anyways"
Calloused thumb lays down bars of eight
swan neck fingers pluck frayed strings
(as if by magic he conjures up)
a stick man with a stand up bass
songs about cuttin' someone else's cane
fat luscious women back door boogiein'
whiskey fog hollow logs ridin' bad rails
"Bring y'own box next sadaday
we gwine sees what you been a'gatherin"
jammin' times I'll never trade
"Jelly roll ballin' slow Jaeesuh's gonna save"
black scenes this white boy chanced to glimpse
"Apart" elders still thump and bray
injunctions loath to lose their sway
C. L. Farmer
Arvada, Colorado |
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 | | C. L. FARMER, 68, Arvada, Colorado, is a Vietnam-era veteran. He graduated from Florida State University in 1963 and resigned his commission as U. S. Army Captain in 1969. He is a semi-retired journeyman welder and metal sculptor who now creates poems instead of sculpture. His sign is Virgo.
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