Etheridge Knight
The Idea of Ancestry
Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black Faces: my father, mother, grandmothers (1 dead), grand- Fathers (both dead), brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, Cousins (1st and 2nd), nieces, and nephews.
As You Leave Me
Shiny record albums scattered over The living room floor, reflecting light From the lamp, sharp reflections that hurt My eyes as I watch you, squatting among the platters, The beer foam making mustaches on
A Poem For Myself
(or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy) I was born in Mississippi; I walked barefooted thru the mud. Born black in Mississippi, Walked barefooted thru the mud. But, when I reached the age of
The Violent Space (Or When Your Sister Sleeps Around For Money)
Exchange in greed the ungraceful signs. Thrust The thick notes between green apple breasts. Then the shadow of the devil descends, The violent space cries and angel eyes, Large and dark, retreat in innocence
Feeling Fucked Up
Lord she’s gone done left me done packed / up and split And I with no way to make her Come back and everywhere the world is bare Bright bone white crystal sand glistens
Dark Prophecy: I Sing Of Shine
And, yeah brothers While white America sings about the unsinkable molly brown (who was hustling the titanic When it went down) I sing to thee of Shine The stoker who was hip enough to
Hard Rock Returns To Prison From The Hospital For The Criminal Insane
Hard Rock/ was/ “known not to take no shit From nobody,” and he had the scars to prove it: Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts above His yellow eyes, and one long scar that