Cornerstone

Tucked away
in the scrubbywoods
of the Arkansas delta,
sits a cemetery.
Forgotten since1932,
crunchy brown leaves pile
against little gray headstones
of deadinfants
and gnarled oak
that weeps.
"Mary Blanche Tatum
1842 -1898. She's going home!"
Black wool over hoop skirts
if she couldafford it,
then returning home
to cotton and rice fields
and a draftyshanty
by the pale green bayou.