Ode to Big Trend

Pretty soon the Negroes were looking to get paid.

My partner, Big Trend, wiped his ox neck and said

He wasn't going to wait too much longer. You

Know that look your daddy gets before he whups you?

That's how Big Trend looked. There was a pink scar

Meddling his forehead. Most people assumed a bear

Like him couldn't read anything but a dollar,

But I'd watched him tour the used bookstore

In town and seen him napping so I knew he held more

Than power in those hands. They could tear

A Bible in two. Sometimes on the walk home I'd hear

Him reciting poems. But come Friday, he was the one

The fellas asked to speak to the boss. He'd go alone,

Usually, and left behind, we imagined the boss buckled

Into Trend's shadow because our money always followed.