Agriculture

Lit the lamp bulb before the sunrise
Before sparrow cry from thistle
The kettle boil before it whistle
The sky bleed purple
The night fight before it die
Squatting in the soil with a fistful
But my hands been dirty since before I could grasp time

Before we had new names
Before we was new in our own eyes
Grew crooked under gargoyle glares
Two trains
Tooken off on cops before they took aim
Same greens cooking with a hock
I grew them in the shade
Used to plot on the come-up, plot on my brothers

Now I get the tomatoes cropping sideways
Stooped in the coop, gathering eggs
Traded some to the neighbor for fresh bread
I say I'm at peace, but it's still that same dread
It's a funny feeling like knowing your enemies is in the feds
It's hard to live when before you was dead
Cup bitter at the bottom, I had to learn to toss the dregs

It's land on either side of the car
It's places no one knows who you are
It's faces we never wore
People we couldn't be before
It's still things we never saw
But I don't wanna see more
I let the dog out the screen door