So you’re back from the kiln—telling Folks every
where on the street with a hoot
about your killing—I guess we forgot that death
lasts longer than life, your fingers to their bones,
both testicles hacked off.
Have not we always been right about niggers?
You know it against the shape and substance of your head.
Yes,  things have a habit of happening,
people have been known to return from the dead,
and Bosque River to slope, dragging
the crimson magma of its load.
Some say at certain points along its path
that river needs to be dammed,
in order for nigger people to make a stand.
So what do you think about this photo, boy?
But Jesse was still looking at folks milling about
the burnt-out tree stump, poking his ashes
for some sign of deliverance,
like treasure hunters at a rubbish tip.

---