Ishmael Reed

A high-yellow lawyer woman told me I ought to go to Europe to “broaden your per spective.” This happened at a black black cocktail party an oil portrait, Andrew Carnegie, smiling down

Seems there was this Professor a member of what should be called The Good German Department Must have signed his name to 5,000 petitions in front of the Co-Op on Cedar and bought two tons of benefit cookies Blames Texas for the sorry state of the oceans Rode a Greyhound bus “Civil Rights,” Alabama, 1960 Found the long yellow war “deplorable” Believes John “Duke” Wayne’s values to be inferior to his He said, “Ishmael, I’d love to do the right thing for as you know I’m all for the right thing and against the wrong thing, but these plaster of paris busts of deceased Europeans Our secret ways Our sacred fears "These books, leather-bound 'copyright 1789’ All of these things, precious to me, gleaming like the stainless steel coffee urn in the faculty club, an original Maybeck, 1902 “I’d stand up for Camelot by golly, even if it meant shooting all the infidels in the world,” he said reaching into his desk drawer “Why, I might even have to shoot you, Ishmael” Staring down the cold tunnel of a hard .38 I thought Most people are to the right when it comes to where they must eat and lay their heads!

My Dear Khomeini: I read your fourteen thousand dollar ad asking me why the Vatican waited all of these years to send an envoy to complain about conditions in Iran You’re right, we should have sent one when the Shah was in power, look, I’m in total agreement with you Khomeini, that Christ, had he lived in Iran under the Shah, would have led the biggest damned revolt you ever saw Believe me, Khomeini, I knew about the Shah’s decadence, his extravagance his misdeeds, and how he lolled about in luxury with Iran’s loot I knew about the trail of jewels which led to his Dad’s capture but a fella has to eat and so when David Rockefeller asked me to do something how could I refuse? You can afford to be holier than thou What is it, 30 dollars per barrel these days? You must be bathing in oil While each day I suffer a new indignity You know that rock record they made me do? It’s 300 on the Charts which is about as low as you can get. And I guess you read where I had to call in all those Cardinals and for the first time reveal the Vatican budget? I had to just about get down on my hands and knees to get them to co-sign for a loan The Vatican jet has a mechanical problem and the Rolls-Royce needs a new engine The staff hasn’t been paid in months and the power company is threatening to turn off the candles To add to that, the building inspector has listed us as having 30,000 code violations I’m telling you, Khomeini, that so many people are leaving the church I have this nightmare where I wake up one day in Los Angeles and I’m the only one left Pretty soon we’ll be one of those cults you read about in the San Francisco Chronicle

The  pioneers and the indians disagree about a lot of things for example, the pioneer says that when you meet a bear in the woods you should yell at him and if that doesn't work, you should fell him The indians say that you should whisper to him softly and call him by loving nicknames No one's bothered to ask the bear what he thinks

Well it's six o'clock in Oakland and the sun is full of wine I say, it's six o'clock in Oakland and the sun is red with wine We buried you this morning, baby in the shadow of a vine Well, they told you of the sickness almost eighteen months ago Yes, they told you of the sickness almost eighteen months ago You went down fighting, daddy. Yes You fought Death toe to toe O, the egrets fly over Lake Merritt and the blackbirds roost in trees O, the egrets fly over Lake Merritt and the blackbirds roost in trees Without you little papa what O, what will become of me O, it's hard to come home, baby To a house that's still and stark O, it's hard to come home, baby To a house that's still and stark All I hear is myself thinking and footsteps in the dark

i tore down my thoughts roped in my nightmares remembered a thousand curses made blasphemous vows to demons choked on the blood of hosts ate my hat threw fits in the street got up bitchy each day told off the mailman lost many friends left parties in a huff dry fucked a dozen juke boxes made anarchist speeches in brad the falcon’s 55 (but was never thrown out) drank 10 martinis a minute until 1 day the book was finished my unspeakable terror between the covers, on you i said to the enemies of the souls well lorca, pushkin i tried but in this place they assassinate you with pussy or pats on the back, lemon chiffon between the cheeks or 2 weeks on a mile long beach. i have been the only negro on the plane 10 times this year and its only the 2nd month i am removing my blindfold and leaving the dock. the judge giggles constantly and the prosecutor invited me to dinner no forwarding address please i called it pin the tail on the devil they called it avant garde they just can't be serious these big turkeys

The grocery had provided him with boxes of rotten lettuce He was loading them onto a yellow pick-up truck He was a frail white man and wore a plaid woolen shirt and frayed dungarees I was sitting in a gray chevrolet rent-a-dent “I have eight adult geese and twenty-six ducks,” he said and i said “I’ll bet you have a big management problem,” and he said “They’re no trouble at all. My wife raised two of them in the house. When she goes near their pen the geese waddle towards her and nibble the lettuce out of her hand” “I'd never think of killing them” he said “They keep me out of the bars”

1 Some say that Chattanooga is the Old name for Lookout Mountain To others it is an uncouth name Used only by the uncivilised Our a-historical period sees it As merely a town in Tennessee To old timers of the Volunteer State Chattanooga is “The Pittsburgh of The South” According to the Cherokee Chattanooga is a rock that Comes to a point They’re all right Chattanooga is something you Can have anyway you want it The summit of what you are I’ve paid my fare on that Mountain Incline #2, Chattanooga I want my ride up I want Chattanooga 2 Like Nickajack a plucky Blood I’ve escaped my battle near Clover Bottom, braved the Jolly Roger raising pirates Had my near miss at Moccasin Bend To reach your summit so Give into me Chattanooga I’ve dodged the Grey Confederate sharpshooters Escaped my brother’s tomahawks with only Some minor burns Traversed a Chickamauga of my own Making, so You belong to me Chattanooga 3 I take your East Ninth Street to my Heart, pay court on your Market Street of rubboard players and organ Grinders of Haitian colors rioting And old Zip Coon Dancers I want to hear Bessie Smith belt out I’m wild about that thing in Your Ivory Theatre Chattanooga Coca-Cola’s homebase City on my mind 4 My 6th grade teacher asked me to Name the highest mountain in the world I didn’t even hesitate, “Lookout Mountain” I shouted. They laughed Eastern nitpickers, putting on the Ritz laughed at my Chattanooga ways Which means you’re always up to it To get to Chattanooga you must Have your Tennessee “She has as many lives as a cat. As to killing her, even the floods have failed you may knock the breath out of her that’s all. She will re- fill her lungs and draw a longer breath than ever” From a Knoxville editorial— 1870s 5 Chattanooga is a woman to me too I want to run my hands through her Hair of New Jersey tea and redroot Aint no harm in that Be caressed and showered in Her Ruby Falls That’s only natural Heal myself in her Minnehaha Springs 58 degrees F. all year Around. Climb all over her Ridges and hills I wear a sign on my chest “Chattanooga or bust” 6 “ HOLD CHATTANOOGA AT ALL HAZARDS ”—Grant to Thomas When I tasted your big juicy Black berries ignoring the rattle- Snakes they said came to Cameron Hill after the rain, I knew I Had to have you Chattanooga When I swam in Lincoln Park Listening to Fats Domino sing I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill on the loudspeaker I knew you were mine Chattanooga Chattanooga whose Howard Negro School taught my mother Latin Tennyson and Dunbar Whose Miller Bros. Department Store cheated my Uncle out of What was coming to him A pension, he only had 6 Months to go Chattanoooooooooooooooooga Chattanoooooooooooooooooga “ WE WILL HOLD THIS TOWN TILL WE STARVE ”-Thomas to Grant 7 To get to Chattanooga you must Go through your Tennessee I’ve taken all the scotsboros One state can dish out Made Dr. Shockley’s “Monkey Trials” The laughing stock of the Nation Capt. Marvel Dr. Sylvanias shazam Scientists running from light- ning, so Open your borders. Tennessee Hide your TVA DeSota determined, this Serpent handler is coming Through Are you ready Lookout Mountain? “Give all of my Generals what he’s drinking,” Lincoln said, when the Potomac crowd called Grant a lush 8 I’m going to strut all over your Point like Old Sam Grant did My belly full of good Tennessee Whiskey, puffing on A.05 cigar The campaign for Chattanooga Behind me Breathing a spell Ponying up for Appomattox!

for Jim Hendrix, hoodoo from his natural born He frightens all the witches and the dragons in their lair He cues the clear blue daylight and He gives the night its dare He flaps His wings for warning and He struts atop a mare for when He crows they quiver and when He comes they flee In His coal black plumage and His bright red crown and His golden beaked fury and His calculated frown in His webbed footed glory He sends Jehovah down for when He crows they quiver and when He comes they flee O they dance around the fire and they boil the gall of wolves and they sing their strange crude melodies and play their weirder tunes and the villagers close their windows and the grave- yard starts to heave and the cross wont help their victims and the screaming fills the night and the young girls die with open eyes and the skies are lavender light but when He crows they quiver and when He comes they flee Well the sheriff is getting desperate as they go their nature’s way killing cattle smothering infants slaughtering those who block their way and the countryside swarms with numbness as their magic circle grows but when He crows they tremble and when He comes they flee Posting hex-signs on their wagons simple worried farmers pray passing laws and faking justice only feed the witches brew violet stones are rendered helpless drunken priests are helpless too but when He crows they quiver and when He comes they flee We have seen them in their ritual we have catalogued their crimes we are weary of their torture but we cannot bring them down their ancient hoodoo enemy who does the work, the trick, strikes peril in their dead fiend’s hearts and pecks their flesh to quick love Him feed Him He will never let you down for when He crows they quiver and when He comes they frown

for Joe Overstreet, David Henderson, Albert Ayler & d mysterious ‘H’ who cut up d Rembrandts i u worry me whoever u are i know u didnt want me to come here but here i am just d same; hi-jacking yr stagecoach, hauling in yr pocket watches & mak ing u hoof it all d way to town. black bard, a robber w/ an art: i left some curses in d cash box so ull know its me listen man, i cant help it if yr thing is over, kaput, finis no matter how u slice it dick u are done. a dead duck all out of quacks. d nagging hiccup dat goes on & on w/out a simple glass of water for relief ii uve been teaching shakespeare for 20 years only to find d joke on u d eavesdropping rascal who got it in d shins because he didnt know enough to keep his feet behind d cur tains: a sad-sacked head served on a platter in titus andronicus or falstaff too fat to make a go of it anymore iii its not my fault dat yr tradition was knocked off wop style & left in d alley w/ pricks in its mouth. i read abt it in d papers but it was no skin off my nose wasnt me who opened d gates & allowed d rustlers to slip thru unnoticed. u ought to do something abt yr security or mend yr fences partner dont look at me if all dese niggers are ripping it up like deadwood dick; doing art d way its never been done. mak ing wurlitzer sorry he made d piano dat will drive mozart to d tennis courts making smith-corona feel like d red faced university dat has just delivered china some 50 e-leben h bomb experts i didnt deliver d blow dat drove d abstract expressionists to my ladies linoleum where dey sleep beneath tons of wax & dogshit & d muddy feet of children or because some badassed blackpainter done sent french impressionism to d walls of highrise lobbies where dey belong is not my fault martha graham will never do d jerk shes a sweet ol soul but her hips cant roll; as stiff as d greek statues she loves so much iv dese are d reasons u did me nasty j alfred prufrock, d trick u pull d in d bookstore today; stand in d corner no peaches for a week, u lemon u must blame me because yr wife is ugly. 86-d by a thousand discriminating saunas. dats why u did dat sneaky thing i wont tell d townsfolk because u hv to live here and im just passing thru v u got one thing right tho. i did say dat everytime i read william faulkner i go to sleep. fitzgerald wdnt hv known a gangster if one had snatched zelda & made her a moll tho she wd hv been grateful i bet bonnie of clyde wrote d saga of suicide sal just as d feds were closing in. it is worth more than d collected works of ts elliot a trembling anglican whose address is now d hell dat thrilld him so last word from down there he was open ing a publishing co dat will bore d devil back to paradise vi & by d way did u hear abt grammar? cut to ribbons in a photo finish by stevie wonder, a blindboy who dances on a heel. he just came out of d slang & broke it down before millions. it was bloody murder vii to make a long poem shorter—3 things moleheaded lame w/4 or 5 eyes 1) yr world is riding off into d sunset 2) d chips are down & nobody will chance yr i.o.u.s. 3) d last wish was a fluke so now u hv to re turn to being a fish p.s. d enchantment has worn off dats why u didnt like my reading list—right? it didnt include anyone on it dat u cd in vite to a cocktail party & shoot a lot of bull—right? so u want to take it out on my hide—right? well i got news for u professor nothing—i am my own brand while u must be d fantasy of a japanese cartoonist a strangekind of dinosaurmouse i can see it all now. d leaves are running low. its d eve of extinction & dere are no holes to accept yr behind. u wander abt yr long neck probing a tree. u think its a tree but its really a trap. a cry of victory goes up in d kitchen of d world. a pest is dead. a prehis toric pest at dat. a really funnytime prehistoric pest whom we will lug into a museum to show everyone how really funny u are yr fate wd make a good scenario but d plot is between u & charles darwin. as i said, im passing thru, just sing ing my song. get along little doggie & jazz like dat. word has it dat a big gold shipment is coming to californy. i by to ride all night if im to meet my pardners dey want me to help score d ambush