The Screamers by John Sinclair

The Screamers

(for Kenny Schooner)

stagger down overgrown sidewalks
of memory, giving hand &
giggling. (earth angel, how I long

for you. where you been, all these
years. Johnny Ace, with a hole
in his head. where you gwine,

Ivory Joe? or those stupid white
Imitations, the Crewcuts, jive Pat
Boone, stealin my songs. Shh-

Boom. Two Hearts. Chuck Berry,
Jimmy Reed. “I got 47 miles
of barbwire. I use a cobra snake

for a necktie. I got a bran/new house
by the roadside, made from
rattlesnake hide.” o you really

really send me, baby you
got to go for me or ah’ll
beat yo ass. who

do you love. (weird lullabies. “broken
hearts.” long long &
lonely nights. for your

precious love, black America,
I wd have drank gasoline &
all I wanted was a little

water. where I came from,
mysterious ofays of the imagin-
ation. why you aren’t here,

with me, old gang, beer-
drinkers, bullshitters. where did
you go.

– JOHN SINCLAIR from THIS IS OUR MUSIC
Detroit / The Artists Workshop Press / 1965