Master I learned from more than anybody him
what love is how / To recognize it love
That’s how I knew I was right to cut Mary’s throat
Thinking of what he did to me my
body what I knew he would
Do to Mary to Priscilla cut / Didn’t just cut
and leave her body move
On to her sister made sure she was dead
I loved her wanted her / Head to come off in my hands
Shane McCrae is the author of Mule (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011), and two chapbooks, One Neither One (Octopus Books, 2009) and In Canaan (Rescue Press, 2010). His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in The Best American Poetry 2010, Fence, Agni, Denver Quarterly, Typo, and others.