My Father's Brothers

Light of foot
and heavy of hair
their witty tongues
bonded the brothers

even when they bailed
the weak one
out of jail
for being drunk
yet steady enough

to rope and hogtie
the constable
of Big Muddy

They were brothers
in failures
as well as in triumphs

They took liberties
only blood will allow
joked privately
and called each other
Blanket Indians
knowing their mother
was half Cherokee

Notes

McDaniel, Wilma. (2001) Borrowed Coats. Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York.
Courtesy University of California, Merced Library. Copyright owned by the Regents of the University of California.