To Grow Their Wealth

There is this story about a young woman

who moved from San Francisco

to Edenton, North Carolina, in 1890. 

She was the wife of a wealthy banker, 

and for some reason there was an interest

in Edenton, of all places, for this semi-wealthy

couple to relocate to to expand and grow

their wealth.

Raleigh, NC
Jan. 2013

Enlightened Men

Tattered blue shirt, 

and navy-blue sweat pants–

a 10-inch knife hanging

out of the left pocket–

are worn by the fisherman. 

His black skin is as tough

as leather, seemingly sown 

onto his face, which has a tired 

expression, neither sad

nor happy, neither affirming

success nor affirming failure. 

He moves to park a moped

on the sidewalk by the coffee

house as he positions two fishing

poles and a bucket of tools, and 

I wonder how he drives 

all that stuff down the road, 

remembering that Jesus’s

disciples were fishermen, too. 

Raleigh, NC

Aril 11, 2013

An Old Country

We live in an old country;
your mother's mother's mother

knew my mother's mother's
mother.

Scene: Arkansas County
debutante ball. Your mother's

mother's mother took a man and
mine went to California.