America Watts 1851-1934

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Poem 53

From the anthology, Voices From Mt Olive Cemetery, a work in progress.

America Watts
1851-1934

Mister White buried me here beside Greek George,
Back here, with the wind-tossed weeds and the walnuts.
“Hey George, you old camel driver, you.
Can you hear me over there?
I can relate to your dogged controlling ways.”
With invisible trace chains attached to my pigtails,
Mister Watts for 39 years was my master and tormentor;
Five times in our marriage I felt the bloody pangs,
Of his beaded belt, and bare knuckles.
Five times I fled from his house a frighted,
Wondering if I would wake up the next morning alive.
“Hey George, you old camel driver, you,
Can you hear me over there?
I was no beast of burden to beat,
Nor was I his old blanket to hang on the line.”
When a possible sixth time erupted in 1891,
I ran to the tool shed next to the privy,
Out back, there, with the lilacs and the bleating ewes.
And I desperately grabbed his bladed axe.
“No Mister Watts! You will not beat me today!”
I screamed, as nearby neighbors looked on.
“No Mister Watts! Never again will I accept this!”
Looking back on that moment, here in my grave,
I believe Mister Watts was waiting for me to at last resist him.
No more after that was I his silent patsy.
No more was I his old, used-up mare,
His old brow-beaten girl, with ticks, gadfly bites,
And a thousand silent complaints.
“Hey George, you old camel driver, you.
Can you hear me over there?
Truth be known, I stood up to my only love in life.”
I finally decided to make a stand against him,
The one who fed, clothed and provided a roof over my head.
And he stopped. He stopped!
Thank the Lord, he stopped beating me!
And here I am, after 83 years of toil, hardship and pain,
Buried happily, way back here,
With the wind-tossed-weeds and the walnuts.

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Andrea Dietrich

Date: 2/21/2018 3:17:00 PM

gosh, what great narrative!! I really enjoyed this one, and I was thinking she was going to butcher the guy and that was why she was now in a grave (as punishment for it). How great to know she stood up for herself. I am curious. Are these real people you are making up stories about from seeing their grave stones? I see this comes from a book called Mt. Olive Cemetery. Or are you basing your epitaphs on true stories? Such ambitious work you are doing!

Stark Hunter
Date: 2/21/2018 4:10:00 PM

Thanks for your kind comments. The poems are largely based on research, done by my brother, a retired history teacher. Some poems, though, for lack of available info, have been created with The Muse close at hand. But all are human stories that we all probably experience at one time or another.

Laura Leiser

Date: 2/21/2018 2:22:00 PM

What a powerful delivery of poetic words in your most excellent poem, Stark! Standing up to physical abuse takes such courage, and you captured that feeling so very well in your fine poem!