from where i'm from: where poems come from (1999)
What does the Lord want with Virgil's heart?
And what is Virgil going to do without one?
O Lord, spare him the Call.
You're looking for bass
in a pond stocked with catfish.
Pass him by.
You got our best.
You took Mammy and the truck and the second hay.
What do You want with Virgil's heart?
Virgil, he comes in of a night
so wore out he can hardly chew
blacked with dust that don't come off at the bathhouse.
He washes again
eats onions and beans with the rest of us
then gives the least one a shoulder ride to bed
slow and singing
Down in some lone valley
in some lonesome places
where the wild birds do whistle…
After that, he sags like a full feed sack
on a couch alongside the TV
and watches whatever news Your waves are giving.
His soul lifts out
like feed from a slit in that sack
and he's gone
wore out and give out and plumb used up, Lord.
What do you want with his heart?