Riot: 60's

Our YOUR FRIEND CHARLIE pawnshop was a glorious blaze I heard the flames lick then eat the trays of zircons mounted in red gold alloys Easter clothes and stolen furs burned in the attic radios and teevees crackled with static plugged in only to a racial outlet Some thought the FRIENDLY FINANCE FURNITURE CO. burned higher When a leopard-print sofa with gold legs (which makes into a bed) caught fire an admiring groan from the waiting horde “Absentee landlord you got that shit” Lighting: a hundred Watts Detroit, Newark and New York Screeching nerves, exploding minds lives tied to a policeman's whistle a welfare worker's doorbell finger Hospitality, southern-style corn pone grits and you-all smile whole blocks novae brand-new stars policemen caught in their brand-new cars Chugga chugga chigga git me one nigga lootin’ n burnin’ he won't git far Watermelons, summer ripe grey neckbones and boiling tripe supermarket roastin’ like the noonday sun national guard nervous with his shiny gun goose the motor quicker here's my nigga picka shoot him in the belly shoot him while he run