(The story of a 1981 downtown Sacramento marathon poetry reading)

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Recorded Poem: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvbviquockbxd7f/didn%27t%20we%20dance.wav?dl=0

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didn’t we dance?

i guess i should
start at the end
since it’s magic
with you
on the sidewalk
across the city street
from my headlong dash

(i’m the one for whom
the drop of water
clings to its mother brick
not to sprinkle my hairdo in passing)

i laughed when I looked at you, god
what a goon squad
your caps silhouetted the afternoon haze
to pleasure the gaze
yeah, team

one tall skinny black man with mirrors for eyes
(wears beat up cowboy hat, carries brand new army hat)
one snotty new york jew
(brown leather beanie)
a rubbery little imp of odd innovation
(long strings of grey hair tucked up under snug leather)
and on the left a strider
(brimmed and gauntleted, of course)

coming to join the itinerant angel
with loose…