PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

A name on metal moans a hollow ring,  

Cold as the weight that name was forced to bear;  

July—an iron root beneath the spring,  

Held fast while Ocoee choked on poisoned air.  

The cowards came to gut the ballot’s grace,  

With noose and fire to cauterize the truth;  

But terror cannot cauterize a place  

Where memory stalks the night like one uncouth.  

They dragged his carcass through swamp and rut,  

Centerpiece to the mob’s most carnal feast;  

Yet where his blood sank into Florida’s cut,  

The ground learned how to whisper like a beast.  

So read the sign; tread lightly where shadows stay;  

July Perry’s ghost still dwells on in the fray