this is not a wagon, but a cage upon the long bed of a truck chained by the neck we climbed on board from Waco to Huntsville all the way I wondered what I'd see when we arrived I was a skinny kid and full of fear they told me of 'the bat', the beating as one laid upon the floor, the sand laced into wounds the screaming and the smell they talked about the barrel how you'd be made to ride all night and day legs numb and hands tight bound to keep our spirits up we talked of Jesse James and William Boney, how they'd have had them on, those bastards, how they'd have had them on the wagon kept on rolling there was no going home
About the AuthorCarolyn Smart is the author of five volumes of poetry, including her most recent collection, Hooked (Brick Books, 2009). She is the founder of the Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, and since 1989 has taught Creative Writing at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
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