Silent Partner
I learn today that mama,
being property,
was massa's investment.
That taken all together,
the only thing more valuable
than us was the land.
That like the land, I, too, was property
and also my mama's interest
—same as her increase.
I was the bonus massa got
for investing in my mama.
He like investing so much
his wife say my green eyes
be interesting, by which I think
she mean—familiar.
I guess they had to sell mama
to profit, to save face,
to compound his interests,
but to multiply my loss.
Copyright Credit: Frank X. Walker, "Silent Partner" from LOAD IN NINE TIMES: POEMS by Frank X. Walker. Copyright © 2024 by Frank X. Walker. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Source: LOAD IN NINE TIMES: POEMS (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2024)