The Gaming of Emmett Till
A-tisket, a-tasket*
A black boy in a casket.
He wrote a letter to his mother
but Mamie never got it.
They got him. They shot him.
The river to the bottom.
A girlie cried. She lied & lied
A crime played out so often.
These lynchings. These fishings.
The wrong side of a fence in.
A bludgeoned face.
A child erased.
But Mamie made us watch it.
This taking. This clocking
A black boy getting gotten
A coffin sighs
A life floats by
And silence is accomplice.
These billys. Be hilly.
The games they play so chilly
They alibis
They river rise
They Tallahatchie bodies.
So nephew, be careful.
And double-check that venue
They play to win. They sink your swim
So bring somebody with you.
*A-Tisket, A-Tasket" is an American nursery rhyme/children's game where a child drops a handkerchief, and another child picks it up and chases him. Emmett Till was chased and brutally killed after being accused of whistling at a white girl.
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