Southern Postcard
   by Jennifer Rose 

 
Ten thousand white-gloved dogwood butlers usher us 
through the South. Their black skins itch in livery, 
their bent waists ache with slavery, 
till June—not Lincoln—sets them free. But one has tossed
his gloves down, see? Visions of Montgomery. 

History and wisteria. Star-crossed 
flag of the Confederacy. Every- 
where bronze members of the cavalry 
guard their public square. Did Appomatox 
happen yet? And who surrendered—Grant or Lee?

(First appeared in Verse.
Copyright © 1990 by Jennifer Rose. 
All rights reserved.) 
 


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