-Callie-

From Carrollton, Texas a thick wind came 

Shaping the land to a structure in steel,

And riding the wind came Virgil Whatley 

Within his mitts a contract’s authority, claiming

The deed to the land of Callie Wallace

To profit from Carrollton's hunger to build, 
And line with the coin of the realm, its shady sleeves.

Now comes the glutton's hunt for the land 

Which anchors' the house— 

The land and the house bequeathed to her

Who forty years by the sweat of her brow       

Labored the barb-filled cotton farm of Charles McKamey,

Long before the mouth of Virgil Whatley

Came to claim its prize, the wealth of her deed, the stone- 

Cold contract's suck of injustice, the justice in forfeiture

Leading to capital gain, as the house and the land of Callie Wallace

Bleeds into steel, bleeds into glass— feeding the pockets  

Of Carrollton, Texas and Virgil Whatley.

 1984 / 2009