it’s in the blood and not the hand:
the corrupt blood of great great
grandmassa freret through great
grandpa cleo and grandpa cleo
and paps and then me;

the empty hand
to which grandmassa bequeathed
some of his fortune to be stolen
by his other (white) line
under the law by which the court
declared null and void the will
and legacy to cleo
because cleo’s mother
grandmassa’s daughter
could not inherit,

so the hand is empty --
empty of that fortune
but not of that blade
with which this disinherited one
drew the same blood
from three of the heirs
of that other (all-white) line
in the dark of one bleak morning
in the same garden district mansion
where grandmassa bed his housemaid
great great grandma mildred
who then in the same mansion
birthed the first cleo
to whom was bequeathed the blood
and the ultimately stolen fortune:

hence the hand the blood
the corrupt blood in these veins
i let onto the floor of the block
screaming “it’s in the blood! it’s in the blood!”

and so they took away the blade
and again the hand is empty
and still the blood is corrupt