14 haiku (for Emmett Till) dormant buds sudden no grey coats stroll bright hued crews laughter from the stoop Hear that laugh? Fourteen, Big-talkin' Chicago boy. Snappy dresser too. Juke joints, fish ("you caught yourself") fries, kinfolk ... (home) ... Lyric Uncle Mose ... come to the Delta ... It ain't [what a stooo-ry!] Chi- cago she warned him train windows. windswept prairie grass to wetland mag- nolias, world to world. so many (creek div- ing, story swapping, joking, boasting) cousins! before and after a wolf whistle can split time southern cousins know Why? (budding story- teller, laugh-getter, bright-eyed joker) For the laughs? "Mose will send me home" promise, forget ... fate-free youth safe on Dark Fear Road it's chaos -- "where's " -- "not from" -- -- "money..." -- "wanna die?!" -- "...cago" "please" -- pulled from his bed the truck lights spanish moss hangs from the poplar trees dark answers "it's him" toolhouse, a dim bulb swings, someone passing tries not ... cries for his mother beat so bad they can't tell "it's him" pulled from the cruel rough Tallahatchie On a bus, two months passed, Rosa Parks said no. "I thought About Emmett Till."