A feast of moon and men and barking hounds,
An orgy for some genius of the South
With blood-hot eyes and cane-lipped scented mouth,
Surprised in making folk songs from soul sounds.

These lines evoke a nocturnal Southern scene rendered as both spectacle and violation: a “feast” and “orgy” of moonlight, men, and hounds suggests ritualized pursuit and predation. The “genius of the South” appears as a figure who consumes Black life and sound—turning “soul sounds” into “folk songs”—hinting at cultural extraction and the aestheticizing of suffering. Sensual, bodily imagery (“blood-hot eyes,” “cane-lipped,” “scented mouth”) intensifies the sense of appetite and appropriation, as if the South’s celebrated artistry is inseparable from violence and domination. The poem’s compressed, synesthetic language makes beauty and brutality feel entangled, forcing the reader to confront the costs behind “folk” culture.