Call Boy

Git out o' bed, you rascals,
Take it up from de covers,
Bring it to de strawboss
Fast as you can;
Down to de railroads
De day is beginnin',
An' day never waited
Fo' no kinda man.

Sun's jes a-peekin'
Over top o' de mountains,
An' de fogclouds a-liftin'
Fo' de break of day;
Number Forty-four's pantin',
Takin' on coal an' water,
And she's strainin' ready
Fo' to get away.

Leave yo' wives and yo' sweethearts,
Yo' pink and yo' yaller,
Yo' blue black and stovepipe,
Yo' chocolate brown;
All you backbitin' rascals,
Leave de other men's women,
De night crew from de roundhouse
Is a-roundin' roun'.

O you shifters and humpers,
You boiler washers,
You oilers and greasers
Of de drivin' rods,
You switchers and flagmen,
Tile layers and tampers,
Youse wanted at de Norfolk
And Western yards.

You cooks got to cook it
From here to Norfolk,
You waiters got to dish it
From here to Tenessee,
You porters got to run
From here to Memphis,
Gotta bring de man's time,
Dontcha see, dontcha see?

De air may be cold an'
Yo' bed may be easy,
Yo' babe may be comfy
An' warm by yo' side;
But don't snore so loud
Dat you can't hear me callin',
Don't ride no nightmare,
Dere's engines to ride.

Git up off o' yo' shirt-tails,
You dumb lazy rounders,
Think I'm gonna let you
Sleep all day?
Bed has done ruint
Dem as can't leave it,
You knows you can't make it
Actin' datway...

Sterling A. Brown

Strawboss: A worker who acts as a boss or crew leader in addition to performing regular duties.
Roundhouse: workplace consisting of a circular building for repairing locomotives .
Stovepipe: ? [one Urban Dictionary definition is "a white woman who sleeps with black men."]
Blueblack: African American with very dark skin.
Shifter: A switcher in the terminology of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Humper: [Not sure but a hump yard is a yard where railcars are rearranged by rolling down a hill into a series of tracks. [http://www.vnerr.com/news/slang.html]
Oilers and greasers: oil and grease moving parts of friction surfaces of mechanical equipment (eg driving rods)


Check out this website for old Harlem Slang:
http://aalbc.com/authors/harlemslang.htm

Image taken between 1909-1932.
Obtained from http://www.old-picture.com

The Dracula Vine

People on the moon love a pet.
But there's only one pet you can get --
The Dracula Vine, a monstrous sight!
But the moon-people like it all right.

This pet looks like a climbing plant
Made from parts of elephant.
But each flower is a hippo's head
Endlessly gaping to be fed.

Now this pet eats everything --
Whatever you can shovel or fling.
It snaps up all your old cardboard boxes
Your empty cans and your stuffed foxes.

And wonder of wonders! The very flower
You have given something to devour
Sprouts on the spot a luscious kind of pear
Without pips, and you can eat it there.

So this is a useful pet
And loyal if well-treat.
But if you treat it badly
It will wander off sadly

Till somebody with more garbage than you
Gives its flowers something to do.



The Earth-Owl and Other Moon-People was dedicated to Frieda and Nicholas Hughes
and published in 1963, the year of Nicholas's birth. Nicholas committed suicide on March
23rd 2009.
This reminds me of a poem in Crow. I think it's called The Love Pet?

The Socialists of Vienna

The rain is falling
steadily. Two by two,
a column of policemen marches
in the twilight. (Revolution!
Against our boots
strike,
flickering tongues!)
A company of soldiers
with machine-guns,
squad by squad, turns within a square
and marches down a street. (Revolution!
We are the greyhounds --
unleash us! --
to hunt these rabbits
out of the fields. Listen to me,
my two wives,
I have killed a man!)
Workingmen troop down the stairs
and out into the rain;
hurrah!
Revolution! (The gentleness of the deer
will never persuade the tiger from his leap.
Strong as a million hands,
what Bastille or Kremlin withstands us
as we march, as we march?)
Who minds the rain now?
How bright the air is;
how warm to be alive!
No children
in the hallways;
the stores closed,
not a motor car;
except for the rain,
how quiet.
Revolution!
Hurry to the power-house;
let the water out of the
boilers! The wires of the lamps burn dimly,
the lights in the houses
are out. Tie the red flag to the chimney,
but do not go through the streets,
where the steel -helmets have woven nets
of barbed wire;
bring guns and machine-guns
through the sewer
to each beleaguered house;
and send couriers throughout the land.
Arise, arise, you workers!
Revolution!

Put on your helmets;
troopers, tighten the straps
under your chins;
strap on revolovers;
tighten your belts,
and mount your horses; mount!
Send bullets flying through the panes of glass --
forward, trot!
I am Fey,
I am Prince Starhemberg;
behind me is The Empire --
the princes of Austria
and the captains of Germany,
armored tanks and armored aeroplanes,
fortresses and battleships;
before us only workingmen
unused to arms and glory!

The bones in his neck part as they hang him,
and the neck is elongated;
here is a new animal
for the zoo in which are
mermaid, centaur, shynx, and Assyrian cherub --
the face human, like their faces,
but sorrowing for a multitude,
hands and feet dangling
out of sleeves and trousers become too short,
and the neck a giraffe's --
as the neck of one who looks away from the patch of grass at his feet
and feeds among clouds should be.

Tell of it you who sit in the little cafes,
drinking coffee and eating whipped cream
among the firecrackers of witticisms;
tell of it you who are free to gallop about on horseback
or to ride in automobiles, or walk in gardens,
who say, Do not speak of despondency --
or any ugliness;
"Wie herrlich leuchtet
Mir die Natur!
Wie glaenzt die Sonne,
Wie lacht die Flur!"*

Karl Marx Hof, Engels Hof,
Liebknecht Hof, Matteotti Hof --
names cut in stone to ornament a house
as much as carving of leaves or fruit,
as any bust of saint and hero;
names pealing out a holiday among the ticking of clocks! --
speak your winged words, cannon;
shell with lies, radios,
the pleasant homes --
the houses built about courtyards
in which were
the noise of trees and of fountains,
the silence of statues and of flowers;
cry out, you fascists,
Athens must perish!
Long live Sparta!

Charles Reznikoff
Separate Way

image Mahnmal gegen Krieg und Faschismus
(Monument against War and Fascism)
photographed by sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hrdlicka

*How splendidly Nature is alight before me! How the sun is shining, how the meadows laugh! -- Goethe

Hero and Leander (extract)

Heaven's winged herald, Jove-born Mercury,
The self-same day that he asleep had laid
Enchanted Argus, spied a country maid,
Whose careless hair, instead of pearl t' adorn it,
Glistered with dew, as one that seemed to scorn it.
Her breath as fragrant as the morning rose,
Her mind pure, and her tongue untaught to glose,
Yet proud she was (for lofty pride that dwells
In towered courts is oft in shepherds' cells),
And too too well the fair vermillion knew,
And silver tincture of her cheeks, that drew
The love of every swain. On her this god
Enamoured was and with his snaky rod
Did charm her nimble feet, and made her stay,
The while upon a hillock down he lay,
And sweetly on his pipe began to play,
And with smooth speech her fancy to assay,
Till in his twining arms he locked her fast,
And then he wooed with kisses, and at last,
As shepherds do, her on the ground he laid,
And tumbling in the grass, he often strayed
Beyond the bounds of shame, in being bold
To eye those parts which no eye should behold.
And like an insolent commanding lover,
Boasting his parentage, would needs discover
The way to new Elysium; but she,
whose only dower was her chastity,
Having striv'n in vain, was now about to cry,
And crave the help of shepherds that were nigh.
Herewith he stayed his fury, and began
To give her leave to rise; away she ran,
After went Mercury, who used such cunning,
As she, to hear his tale, left off her running.
Maids are not won by brutish force and might,
But speeches full of pleasure and delight.
And, knowing Hermes courted her, was glad
That she such loveliness and beauty had
As could provoke his liking, yet was mute,
And neither would deny nor grant his suit.


(lines 386-424)
Sorry -- don't know the details about the image but I found it here: http://arturovasquez.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/lovers/