Horsepower by Joy Priest

Author:Joy Priest [Priest, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780822987581
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

ODE TO HUSHPUPPY

say here & it sound

like a heel shoved

down a throat.

a horse hitched. guttural.

tough meat yanked,

bones crushed by teeth

minted in gold. sound

like a sixth generation

curse when it fly

out your mouth little god.

a bolt cracking ‘cross

field laid flat beneath indigo

clouds. you say come back

heel & you mean

your daddy too. mean

we are so ancient.

how long we done

lived— us-folk,

for whom heaven

is live broadcast.

our down-at-the-heel

place. filthy & barefoot.

double-wide on stilts.

a body to be burned

if need be, ‘cause

already. already no fear

of fire in you.

of sharp gill or heavy

hand laid into your cheek.

you’ve caught

on early, turning—

through cylinders

of nature—root,

rainfall to praise. making

rubber tire, rusted

scrap into playground.

sun-bleached boats,

fish nets are birds

in your hand,

there on the divine screen

of poverty. ingenuity,

beggar’s alchemy:

what we got into

what we ain’t meant

to have. we’s

who the earth

is for, you

squeak. & you sing

two kinds of people:

your daddy & you:

those who stay

& those who escape

the heel.

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