Alien Corn

Crockett, East Tennessee, 1777

In the field they chop corn
Mother Father row
By row they chop the weeds
They turn them under so

Weeds and earth are one
They do not see the long
Hairs slip into the field
Behind them and raise their strong

Arms of stone and put to sleep
Their hair is black as coal
Black as night Mother Father
They each have a red hole

In their heads I see them
They bloom they are in earth
They can chop better there
Not me my tangled birth

The long hairs don't hurt me
They say I am a gift
I am from the Great Spirit
My head has no rift

Like a row of corn
Mother Father lie there
The long hairs take me
They hug me like a bear

They say I am their gift
Their hair is black as coal
I will live in their village
I will be their foal

*Peter Huggins teaches in the English Department at Auburn University. His books of poems are NECESSARY ACTS, River City Publishing, 2004, BLUE ANGELS, River City Publishing, 2001, and HARD FACTS, Livingston Press, 1998. He is also the author of a forthcoming novel for middle grade readers, IN THE COMPANY OF OWLS; a picture book, TROSCLAIR AND THE ALLIGATOR, is due out in Summer or Fall 2005 from Star Bright Books/New York.