Imani Elizabeth Jackson and S*an D. Henry-Smith
Excerpt from What the roots shallowed

An online search for Black Betty reveals questions commonly asked of her:

What is Black Betty slang for?

Is the song Black Betty about a black woman?

Is Black Betty a racist song?

What does Ram Jam mean?

It is speculated that Black Betty is a euphemism: a whip used in Southern prisons, a motorcycle, a musket, a bottle of whiskey, a wagon that transfers prisoners.

Betula nigra.

The Latin name for the river birch.

The Latin name for the river birch is Betula nigra.

Betula being birch and nigra being black.

Betula nigra being a black birch, a river birch.

Betula sounding like an old southern name, called out for from a porch as the sun goes down.

The summoned Betula being a Black girl sitting lazing thinking drinking by a river as the sun goes down.

Betula being a Black girl called Betty for short.

Betula nigra being a Black Betty, a black birch, a river birch.

All river birches being black birches. All river birches being Black Bettys.

People also ask:

Where should I plant a river birch tree?

Is river birch a good tree?

Do river birch trees grow fast?

Are river birch trees messy?

I learn that they are the only semi-aquatic birch, the only birch to grow in the South, disdained by loggers for their knots and spindles.

will & 

testament to thethirsting peat,

excessingcarbon into frigid air,wet

willow won’t you sip
willowwontyou 

illadversary pontificates on the puddlingearth

exercising abandontestament to falseauthorityprotesting puddling earth 

puddlingeverywhereis sea

swampyoungswampyoung

willow

sip

swoop lowsagebird
bittersinging

tunnel into
willowtorso tunnel take you from

one delta
delta two

sinking land
two continents unalike ekilanu stnenitnoc owt  

mirroring
two deltas 

mirrors