The Days of Plums and Wrestling

We used go go into the woods
back in Columbus Georgia
and eat wild plums

Dark and juicy sweet
till our bellies burst
and we staggered home
sticky and sated

Where my mom and I
together would watch pro wrestling
on TV

She'd whoop and cackle
whenever
one or the other guy
got in a good one

The year they decided
to integrate
the elementary schools
down there
we moved to Springfield, Illinois

Not to stay away
from negroes
my mother said
but to stay away from bad schools

The days of plums and wrestling
ended then
though being just out of 4th grade
I did not know this yet

Illinois was
I figured
no different than Georgia
just with corn instead

In the South
they taught us about
the war between the states
which wasn't about slavery at all

Because even southerners
back then
knew it was a bad thing
on its way out

They told us
how wonderful
Stonewall Jackson was, too

as opposed
to Sherman

In Illinois
it was Lincoln everywhere
like in the cemetary
and downtown
and even the gas stations

There weren't any plums though
but the cornfields were cool
especially the one
that ended right up next to my house

You could head into it
and find huge spiders
and walk for maybe miles
until you hit the railroad tracks

Where we threw rocks
at trains blowing by
full of grain
and boxcars

I've never been back
to Columbus Georgia
but I imagine
it's different now

And once
all grown up
at a restaurant
with a Black woman
in Savannah
the waitress
acted sick to her stomach
when she took our order
and served the food

But I still eat plums
bought from the store
and corn too,
though there's not much room
in life
these days
for professional wrestling