Description: I decided to repost this for the purpose of supplimenting your high school history lessons...
dont need to comment if you have already
If you have any questions, feel free to ask...
Opportunity is not a Myth -------------------------------------------
Horatio Alger fell off the ship
into a textile mill
feet bare
he wove flags
and Misses Smith's new dress
And Rockefeller
with a gleam in his eye
gave dear Horatio
a SHINY DIME
and in ten years two!
One for each eye
as Alger's body hung limp
on the factory line
Draft Horses
speak Itallian
I dont know where
her bare breast starts
or the dirty baby ends
Just a slather of thigh cream
and white Ivory soap
This girl will live her dream
She'll die pure
She'll die clean
as she burns in the Triangle Shirt Waste Fire
"Ebony Hands Polish Ebony Shoes"
later sang the Harlem Boys Choir
Pluck, Luck,
and some medication
when bodies are stiff
they make great doors
and defective is he
who strangles himself
pulling up his bootstraps
because gravity should be defeated
by strong arms.
its beena while since i have read some of your ish...and well the knowlege seems to be continuing. some real poignant stabs at horatio alger, with your oh so cutting wit. the blending of fact with this fantastical melting of marginalized bodies is quite powerful. two strong lines that really work for me are:
Draft Horses speak Itallian I dont know where her bare breast starts or the dirty baby ends
She'll die pure She'll die clean as she burns in the Triangle Shirt Waste Fire
"Ebony Hands Polish Ebony Shoes" later sang the Harlem Boys Choir
the whole piece has a good lyrical quality...i feel like this should be taught as a sing along in all the middle and elementary schools across the nation. glad to know teh sociological imagination continues to thrive in your poetry.
well ..Not being an american I can't remember having heard much at all about Horatio Alger. I must say I would love to have you as my history teacher though .. I think I would have enjoyed it much more in my high school days heh. So since I didn't really know who this author was I had to look him up ... realise there is a whole society dedicated to the man .. I feel like I should have heard of or know about this man earlier now that I see where and how much he is mentioned. ..but I guess that's the way it is when you come accross the supplementary reading before you have seen the body .. like a handfull of sparks without knowing where the flare is ..
I was curious if yo uknow .. or ifyou could tell me what Hunter S Thompson had to say about him in fear and loathing in las vegas .. and what Moores opinion was in dude, where's my country .. From what I could read in a brief brushover .. Alger seemed like a person that repeated the story of how hard work needed a heroic deed to get anywhere .. very rough I guess .. but that's what I got out of what I read about him .. hope to hear from you soon .. thanks for an interresting look at american history. .
well ..Not being an american I can't remember having heard much at all about Horatio Alger. I must say I would love to have you as my history teacher though .. I think I would have enjoyed it much more in my high school days heh. So since I didn't really know who this author was I had to look him up ... realise there is a whole society dedicated to the man .. I feel like I should have heard of or know about this man earlier now that I see where and how much he is mentioned. ..but I guess that's the way it is when you come accross the supplementary reading before you have seen the body .. like a handfull of sparks without knowing where the flare is ..
I was curious if yo uknow .. or ifyou could tell me what Hunter S Thompson had to say about him in fear and loathing in las vegas .. and what Moores opinion was in dude, where's my country .. From what I could read in a brief brushover .. Alger seemed like a person that repeated the story of how hard work needed a heroic deed to get anywhere .. very rough I guess .. but that's what I got out of what I read about him .. hope to hear from you soon .. thanks for an interresting look at american history. .
Submission Name: Opportunity is not a Myth
