Tree of Life
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Tree of Life
A crude mark that neither God nor birth created.
Massa planted it right there: below a head of hair that God twisted,
below onyx shoulders that toted hundred-pound bails of cotton.
They say Papa grew a tree on his back—
whipped and mangled leaves. [End Page 882]
Rashad L. Givhan
Rashad L. Givhan is working on an MA degree in English/Creative Writing at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, where he is also a graduate assistant in the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
