Contents
1. OLD BACKDROPS DARK
How Mamas Begin Sometimes
Still Life with Toothpick
Keep Saying Heaven and It Will
Before Orphan Unearthed the Mirror
Fixing on the Next Star
One Way to Run from It
Annie Pearl, Upward
Otis and Annie, Annie and Otis
June 25, 1955
Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah
Chicago
Tenzone
3315 W. Washington, 3A
Alliance
2. WE SHINED LIKE THE NEW THINGS WE WERE
A Colored Girl Will Slice You If You Talk Wrong about Motown
Annie Pearl’s Arethabops
True That
Shedding
Laugh Your Troubles Away!
The Boss of Me
3. LEARNING TO SUBTRACT
Ooo, Baby, Baby
First Friction
Speculation
Jumping Doubledutch
Minus One. Minus One More.
And Now the News: Tonight the Soldiers
Have Soul and Die
Next. Next.
4. MAD AT MY WHOLE DAMN FACE
Ain’t but One Way Heaven Makes Sense
Tavern. Tavern. Church. Shuttered tavern,
Sanctified
An All-Purpose Product
Baby of the Mistaken Hue
Because
What Garfield Park Kept Saying
To Keep from Saying Dead
13 Ways of Looking at 13
Dear Jimmy Connoll
Carnie
Guess Who’s Closest to Heaven
His for the Taking
Dirty Diana
An Open Letter to Joseph Peter Naras
An Open Letter to Joseph Peter Naras, Take 2
5. WAIT
An Open Letter to Joseph Peter Naras, Take 3
Asking for a Heart Attack
Hip-hop Ghazal
Looking to See How the Eyes Inhabit Dark, Wondering about Light
Thief of Tongues
Motown Crown