The White Tree was green, shady
oak in the schoolyard for whites
only, until a black student sat
there and three nooses were hung
from its branches the next day
three nooses white tree
Three white students were caught
and suspended for three days, black
students sat by the tree to protest, one
black was beaten by whites, a white
man threatened others with a gun
three students three days
Finally six black students “punched
and kicked” a white student, one
with a sneaker called a “deadly weapon”
at the trial where he was sentenced
to 22 years for attempted murder
one shoe 22 years
10,000 people, mostly black,
came to town as thousands of white
people had gone to similar towns
to see nooses hung from trees
with black bodies years before
white-leafed nightmare tree
The case was retried, but cases
were still pending when nooses began
to appear everywhere: a professor’s
door, a police station locker, a highway
department, a sanitation garage
those white doors those white walls
But back in the little town
of Jena, the white tree
was cut down