SISTER SAID

James Michael Taylor

This is my mom’s story.
Lula Teeters got off to
a pretty rough start.
She finally turned it
all lose last November.
May she rest in peace.

SISTER SAID

Daddy was a miner. He worked himself to death
Company said he killed himself, but they stoled his only breath
Daddy took a butcher knife. Took it to his own throat
Wrote his name in blood on the kitchen floor
And that was all he wrote

Sister said, “Get the children out the kitchen.”
Sister said, “This is something we won’t mention.”
“If the children start a askin’, tell ‘em Daddy’s gone fishin’.”

You take that South Pittsburg exit there at mile marker 184
going down south outta Nashville on Interstat 24. You go on
down across that Alabama line. You turn left (actually Right)
Passed that cemetery where the Teeters are all buried. Mama,
Daddy and little brother. And then you turn back up into Tennessee
About six or eight miles you pass Russell’s Cave. Then you come to a dead end. it’s called Oram, Tennessee. They used to run two coal trains a day outta there.

How I love my mama. I love my mamma so.
Got TB and died when I was eight years old.
Left me with little brother, a cripple from his birth.
He gave up the ghost at seven years old
and that was all he’s worth. That was all he’s worth.
Plant him in the earth.

Sister said, “Get the children out the kitchen.”
Sister said, “This is something we won’t mention.”
“If the children start a askin’, tell ‘em Daddy’s gone fishin’.