was a time when black chattel
was inheritance
like cattle,
like silver and gold

herded and sold
on auction blocks
to the highest bidder

going once,
going twice,
sold...

to the cotton king
and his kin
from florida’s keys  
to the lochs of kentucky

wealth flowed like the Mississippi
filling white wells with prosperity
four centuries
and more

as seminal droughts rained
cyclones of poverty
on the black side of town

no gold
would be handed down
to the kin
of booker t and harriet...

only slivers of hope.

~ P