Fat girls have more fun in the woods
Is what boys said. What did I know?
An Indian fell from the cliff
To name Sally’s Rock. This was truth.
What did I know? The Army Camp
Was built to keep the Russians out.
This was truth. Ike was President.
Bernadette did it if you asked.
To keep Russians out of our woods
All day we slunk from tree to rock.
If you ask now what I saw then
I have to say what I said then.
Nothing. Bernadette was climbing
Sally’s Rock. It’s what we all did.
From tree to rock to cliff. For fun.
She’d found a cave where she could watch
While I looked everywhere for her
And no matter how mad I got
She would watch. She would not call out.
I saw then that she must hate me,
So I got mad. It did no good.
I found the ledge. It did no good.
I hated her. And ran away.
And told them at the Army Camp
That a stupid fat girl was naked
In a cave high on Sally’s Rock.
The Army Camp turned out to look
For Bernadette, and found her
Dead on the stones beneath the cliff,
And asked me again what I knew.
Fat girls have more fun in the woods.
The Army keeps the Russians out.
Bernadette does it if you ask.
An Indian fell from the cliff.
Beneath the cliff the soldiers found
Nothing. What did I know? Nothing.
Ike was President. This was truth.
Bernadette loved you if you asked.
—from Enemies of the State (Black Belt, 2000)