he beat me.
place dem scriptures on
his whip and tol’ me ta stand up.
tol’ me stay quiet.
tol’ jesus to get it outta me, too.
i thought mas’er was crazy.
thought he den los’ his min’
er somethin’. i tol’ him, though,
dere no way ta get it outta me –
quiet he says – i’d bleed a lil’.
i says, mas’er, you can’t whip it outta
me – he’d beat me harder – and i’d bleed
a lil’ mo’. by now i was hummin’. figured
it was the only way ta get my mind off
the pain. but not to loud, though. i knew
if mas’er heard me hummin’ he’d beat me
even harder. and i’d just bleed a lil’ mo’.
– the new black by lj hughes
poetryland 