The Water Witch on Invasion

It’s serious business to come on a man’s land
but when they get a hair up the wrong place
i always have my rifle ready. Sometimes
i turn the light on, so i can see who their daddies are.
Young white boys are like that sometimes, smelling
their selves, thinking they can do it cause i’m black,
cause i’m old, or just cause. Cause i’m a servant of the good Lord
is the reason i ain’t never shot one yet. I just say Git on, now.
Git on back where you come from out into the dark
toward the place where i hear the leaves rustling.
Next most all i hear is the gravel crunch as they head
on down the road. Sometimes they come closer still,
that’s when i poke that ole .22 up toward the trees
& let it rip three times. It’s serious business
to step foot on a man’s land but sometimes
when i hear their feet traveling away from me
like spooked cattle in the dark, i can’t help but laugh.

Crystal Wilkinson