Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth

[Andrew Savage] I’d seen the bloodlands of Antietam The shotgun shack in Tupelo But a brick circumference left hollow by Sherman Crumbling before me how it moaned His shape swallows my recollection That phantom silhouette implied Strange fruit rotting from an airborne and hotter than hell Is this the king’s last man I’ve spied? I stood there beside my companion Scratching a rumor he had heard Do you have a gun? What? He said, yeah, you mean this one? Straight down the barrel was his word And I smelt the fumes he inhaled swiftly Each word was hinged upon his choke Like kudzu creeping up a state tree discretely Forever bending as it broke And I heard the jangling keys of Graceland Ring from his teeth stained brown from coke Drunk and stumbling like a man of distinction They clamored shaking as he spoke Of droves of pilgrims at his doorway Of Reagan, Carter, Clinton, Gore Fortunes offered them, refused routinely This ain't no damn auction house he swore Black male standing around 6 foot something Ebbs through the waves of small town blight A minute coldly from southern affection Collides secretly into night Forgive those who trespass against us Began as the dead intruders plea Into the very muzzle I’d once peered into He gives the last words he will speak But that broken glass supports forced entry Reminds his lawyer through the phone What southern judge do you know, comforting gently Who jails white men who defend their home No souls were present for the moment His bombed out brick walls finally fell Lying face down in the throes of atonement Checked out of the Heartbreak Hotel He was the uncast shadow of a southern myth [x5]