MIGRATION by Carole Gregory Clemmons.

She stood hanging wash before the sun
and occasionally watched the kids
gather acorns from the trees,
and when her husband came,
complaining about the tobacco spit on him they decided to run North.
for a free evening.

She stood hanging wash in the basement
and saw the kids sneak puffs from cigarettes,
fix steel traps with cheese
and when her husband came,
complaining of the mills drudgery,
she burst-
said she had no hunter’s heart
beat him with a broom,
became blinded by the orange sun
racing into steel mill flames
and afterwards, sat singing spirituals to sons…..
Reprinted by permission of Moore Publishing.