| | | I Too, At the Beginning | | by Ted Joans | | I am the early Black Beat
I read with some of the
Best Beat minds
When the Apple was Beat Generating
I lived in the Greenwich Village
It was there
Where I read poems and painted poetry
Whilst worthy constituents
Dwelled elsewhere
It was me/myself/and I
Who created the original
BIRD LIVES!
I wailed & wailed
In coffee shops wayback when
Especially on lucrative weekends
I read to tourists and squares
I wanted to change and transform
The minds of conventional Americans
Yesteryear
At the beginning
There were only
Three darker brothers
Born Beat and hipper-than-thou
Kaufman/Jones/ & Joans
Amongst the white beatniks
Who had big publishers
But little bank accounts
Nevertheless I confess
We, three Black beats had neither
Yet, we, like Crispus Attucks
Were right there
At the beginning
But big bread publishers
Ignored us and
Even established small press
Made harmful or shunned us
We were ģinvisible men
As Ellison had said
Invisible on Beat West Coast
Invisible too on the East Coast
Institutional racism is
Amongst the Beats
Merely benign neglect
Nonetheless I still confess
We, three, also swung America
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