Tommye Blount

Band Master

Made of satin, trimmed in silk soutache braid and embroidered in
silk. Silk and tassels. Price, each $25.00
—from Catalogue of Official Robes and Banners Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan

—all golden as a tenor rising

to meet the night, a nocturne to master
the screeching beasts. A song is a voice’s attempt
to chase down the outlaws of beauty, to capture

then bound them in chords. With a fiery voice, a man
could raze then rebuild the architecture of a place:

in a revival tent, tarp would become temple;
in a field, a man in gilded vestments
could become a guiltless man of the cloth

who sees through the dark by the light of his cross.
“The Lord reigneth,” he might croon to soothe himself

from the weeping—yes, caught up in the rapture
it’s easy to forget the weeping, which is another form of song
yet unweighted by the need for melody or harmony,

just sound pure enough to take one down to their knees,
a dark keening surrounded in a white halo of hems.

Grand Dragon

Made of satin, trimmed with military braid and embroidered in
silk. Silk cord and tassels. Price, each $40.00
—from Catalogue of Official Robes and Banners Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan

You must be ready to dirty the whites
of your eyes bloodshot

for the sake of a clean vision; illuminate
what dare darkens your hood; throw

your capes back and bare your arms,
show them the way

even night can’t dim what the Lord
has made you; you are the lords of fire; sire

your bloodlines; draw blood and hold
the line, stand by; point your finger

in any direction, call the land yours,
call it a house of spooks

in need of haunting; you are boogie-men,
make them dance, watch them levitate,

see them tap dance the air, light
their flight back home

with the warm breath of your serenade.