How I Got Born

The speaker is the young black man
Susan Smith claimed
kidnapped her children.

Though it's common belief
That Susan Smith willed me alive
At that moment
Her babies sank into the lake

When called, I come.
My job is to get things done.
I am piecemeal.
I make my living by taking things.

So now a mother needs me clothed
In hand-me-downs
And a knit cap.

Whatever.
We arrive, bereaved
On a stranger's step.
Baby, they weep,
Poor child.

From BRUTAL IMAGINATION (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2001)