Honoring Black History Month

Whitewashing History Against a Blackening Afternoon Sky

(As Published in Literary Yard by Keith Hoerner)

- After Nooning Tree in St. Louis

$10,000 down

Gets you in

Your choice of

Ranch or two-story

In prestigious Nooning Tree

“Is there one, a Nooning Tree?”

“Of course,” the saleslady answers

Loose strands of hair catching

The corner of her mouth

Like a lie

Tempered by talk of tradition

She motions; I follow

Slipping on the deceptively

Green sod

Outside her display home

She points, arm outstretched

Fingers fanning

In a ta-da moment

“There …The Nooning Tree.

Under that very shade (weather permitting)

Noon meals were served

To plantation workers

Every day

Quaint, now, isn’t it?

”Yes,

If it were true; if only – it were true

For a few of us

Still know fact from fiction

About this suburbanized

183-year-old black walnut

Its gnarled branches

Leafingthroughsecrets

Midday laughter filtered not

Through this centurion’s autumnal rush

Frenetic excitement hung thick in the air

Frozen families, slack-jawed gawkers, jeering landlords gathered

On what is now

Premium Lot 241 (backing to woods)

Where a barbarian’s buffet

Was laid

Bulging, blood-shot eyes

Subtle smells of rope-

Burned flesh

Slaves lynched on the strike of noon

On a tree

On a bountiful

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