Page 25 - Contrast1990

Past Cairo
by Rhonda Sue Mize

A boy and his nigger went down the Mississippi
To escape Ms. Watson's civilization.
But what is civilization where black folk
Labor under the yoke of oppression
And bear a meaningless price on their heads?

Mammy's in the kitchen warming corn pone
And Jacob's in the field picking cotton
While little brown boys stand naked,
Rubbing their bellies, and smacking at the flies
Behind the ramshackle nigger houses.

The white man's horse rides up to the slant porch
(He was a fine horse, too, not like Jacob's mule.)
Mammy rushes out toting a dipper and a pail
And a single china cup she'd been given for her wedding
By the missus in the big house.

Trembling with the fear of Holy Jesus,
Mammy meekly offers the warm well-water
In her prized magnolia blossom pattern.
Lightning quick, the overseer's hand strikes out
And shatters Mammy's courage on the ground.

"Don't you know better, nigger
Than to offer me that common brew?" He spits.
His breath is laced with whisky
And his white eyes hold tracks of red.
He comes in vengeance; he comes in hate.

"Now where's that filthy husband of yours?"
He tucks Mammy under the chin
While the little brown boys cluster at her skirts,
Her fear of the white man voiced in their whimpers.
He notices the children, God's children.

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