High Water Everywhere

Poetry collection by Gary Copeland Lilley. Lilley's collection addresses flashpoints in African American history including the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 and Hurricane Katrina. Second edition with new poems. EXCERPT: Colonel Waddell on the Morning of November 10, 1898 from High Water Everywhere They vote Republican black. They walk Our streets with their heads up, with more freedom Than a white man, and now we have been made To conduct our city's business under The rule of carpet-baggers and negroes. White men will suffer eternally If we do not honor that it's our blood That makes North Carolina sacred ground. If we don't act they'll soon have the land And all our grand history that's on it: The Confederate graves, all the gray men From all our families, to their proud deaths Give glory, honor the white way of life. Let black bodies choke the Cape Fear River.