[Realpoetik] SHANE MCCRAE [Part Two]

RealPoetik Magazine realpoetik at scn9.scn.org
Sun May 1 09:05:07 PDT 2011


*from* THE AWAKENING OF SOLOMON NORTHUP: 2. IN DARKNESS


Woke for the first     time in my life



chained     aching woke in darkness



Woke in a dark my eyes



Couldn’t adjust to woke



chained to a ring in the floor



Head aching     chained in a dark room



And hearing footsteps voices



overhead     I realized



The room was underground



Woke     and at first I couldn’t



Remember how I came     to be in the room     and after I



After remembering the men     who ran the circus the



Two white men who     with whom



I had been traveling



Remembered but I couldn’t understand



remembered only



Eagerness     kindness in their faces



As they handed me the money I had earned



And kindness in their faces as they left me for the night



And woke in darkness was



In darkness for     hours and no one came



I felt my way



around the room I found



The ring in the floor remembered



but I couldn’t understand I     felt my way around



Crawling     and in the darkness



I after a while     couldn’t be sure



My eyes were open



*Shane McCrae* is the author of *Mule* (Cleveland State University Poetry
Center, 2011), and two chapbooks, *One Neither One* (Octopus Books, 2009)
and *In Canaan* (Rescue Press, 2010). His work has appeared, or is
forthcoming, in *The Best American Poetry 2010*, *Fence*, *Agni*, *Denver
Quarterly*, *Typo*, and others.


-- 
RealPoetik
www.realpoetik.org
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