L-vis trip/tics thru american history class
after pat rosal
by Kevin Coval
1.
g-d must be an english teacher who likes irony
and master tongues. a creator of slipcovers, i guess
create is a strong word, perhaps supplant is sufficient,
like the new testament and what not. all of this built
on atlantis and Choctaw. g-d must like clouds alot
considering he is said to bat cave there, a resort
among the light and billowy. clouds remind me
of rabbits. rabbits scare easy and burrow into holes
and scamper all over the forest and fuck alot.
g-d must like to fuck alot so america made tuskegee
and immune deficiency. barbie the apple headed
wishboned from walt disney. adam smith quarters
the garden into enclaves, robert moses parts the bronx.
america must think it was typecast in g-d’s biography
on network tv, a big budget and eminent domain.
2.
emmitt smith ran for 18,355 yards
the most in NFL history / he ran
most on sundays / g-d’s day /grid
iron / metal / rust / industry built
war /mongered / mongrel sounds
walter mondale / half majestic derek
jeter / jesters / dick gregory / albert king
rodney / jesse owens on a sparrow branch
rickey / henderson / stolen base /swollen
face / emmett till could not run fast enough
at 14 / july 4 / the candles are roman /pies
black / buried / snow / cones and levities
re /mastered / on a white / label
3.
letter to al jolson
i will place you in a wooden box
near the mirror i change in front of.
you crooned in burnt cork, i will not
have to. you one knee whistled mammy,
i will sorry mama thug a tale so churned
it will sing sweet butter in my mouth.
you wore the mask so i may rock the fitted.
you movied with aunt jemima, i will dawn
the do-rag. i get faded but black hung
in your pores. its ashes float in the blood
river. i honor your death pyre in memphis.
i upstreamed the mississippi like salmon.
crossed the atlantic in black vinyl to cess
pool in the short lives of beatles and stones.
your legacy; monster pack rats, we carry
crates of alan lomax ethnography. we dig
you like sick(le) /cells we can’t jail break.
KEVIN COVAL is the author of everyday people and slingshots (a hip-hop poetica), named a Book
of the Year finalist by the American Library Association. He has performed in 40 states, on four
continents in seven countries and four seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. Co-Founder of Louder
Than a Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival, the largest youth poetry festival in the world,
Coval teaches at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
by Kevin Coval
1.
g-d must be an english teacher who likes irony
and master tongues. a creator of slipcovers, i guess
create is a strong word, perhaps supplant is sufficient,
like the new testament and what not. all of this built
on atlantis and Choctaw. g-d must like clouds alot
considering he is said to bat cave there, a resort
among the light and billowy. clouds remind me
of rabbits. rabbits scare easy and burrow into holes
and scamper all over the forest and fuck alot.
g-d must like to fuck alot so america made tuskegee
and immune deficiency. barbie the apple headed
wishboned from walt disney. adam smith quarters
the garden into enclaves, robert moses parts the bronx.
america must think it was typecast in g-d’s biography
on network tv, a big budget and eminent domain.
2.
emmitt smith ran for 18,355 yards
the most in NFL history / he ran
most on sundays / g-d’s day /grid
iron / metal / rust / industry built
war /mongered / mongrel sounds
walter mondale / half majestic derek
jeter / jesters / dick gregory / albert king
rodney / jesse owens on a sparrow branch
rickey / henderson / stolen base /swollen
face / emmett till could not run fast enough
at 14 / july 4 / the candles are roman /pies
black / buried / snow / cones and levities
re /mastered / on a white / label
3.
letter to al jolson
i will place you in a wooden box
near the mirror i change in front of.
you crooned in burnt cork, i will not
have to. you one knee whistled mammy,
i will sorry mama thug a tale so churned
it will sing sweet butter in my mouth.
you wore the mask so i may rock the fitted.
you movied with aunt jemima, i will dawn
the do-rag. i get faded but black hung
in your pores. its ashes float in the blood
river. i honor your death pyre in memphis.
i upstreamed the mississippi like salmon.
crossed the atlantic in black vinyl to cess
pool in the short lives of beatles and stones.
your legacy; monster pack rats, we carry
crates of alan lomax ethnography. we dig
you like sick(le) /cells we can’t jail break.
KEVIN COVAL is the author of everyday people and slingshots (a hip-hop poetica), named a Book
of the Year finalist by the American Library Association. He has performed in 40 states, on four
continents in seven countries and four seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. Co-Founder of Louder
Than a Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival, the largest youth poetry festival in the world,
Coval teaches at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.