Strange but true is the story
of the sea-turtle and the shark- the instinctive drive of the weak to survive in the oceanic dark.
Driven,
riven by hunger from abyss to shoal, sometime the shark swallows the sea-turtle whole.
The sly reptilian marine
withdraw, into the shell of his undersea craft,
his leathery head and the rapacious claws
that can rip a rhinoceros’ hide or strip a crocodile to fare-thee-well;
now inside the shark,
the sea-turtle begins the churning seesaw
of his decent into pelagic hell;
then…then with ravenous jaws that cut sheet steel scrap,
the sea-turt
The night John Henry is born
an ax of lightning splits the sky,
and a hammer of thunder pounds the earth,
and the eagles and panthers cry!
John Henry-he says to his Ma and Pa:
“Get a gallon of barleycorn.
I want to start right, like a he-man child,
the night that I am born!”
Says: “I want some ham hocks, ribs, and jowls,
a pot of cabbage and greens;
some hoecakes, jam, and buttermilk,
a platter of pork and beans!”
John Henry’s Ma-she wrings her hands,
and his Pa-he scratches his head.
The Harlem Advocate fell between his legs.
The story was incredible!
Taking off his glasses,
Uncle Rufus rubbed the lenses and thought…though.
Yes, his son had always been a prodigal son,
Drinking home brew and chasing sin-loving women
And staying away from church at revival times.
Then he had gone to Selma, Alabama,
With that Blackwood woman
Who had lived with a dozen different sweet men.
The Harlem Advocate said
Eddie had cut up the Blackwood woman in a dance hall;
And when the jury had found him guilty
He’d struck a prosecuting attorney in the jaw;
And it h
