Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TIRED, by FENTON JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TIRED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am tired of work; I am tired of building up somebody else's civilization
Last Line: I am tired of civilization.
Subject(s): African Americans; Civilization; Social Protest; Negroes; American Blacks


I am tired of work; I am tired of building up somebody
else's civilization.
Let us take a rest, M'Lissy Jane.
I will go down to the Last Chance Saloon, drink a gallon or two of
gin, shoot a game or two of dice and sleep the rest of the night on
one of Mike's barrels.
You will let the old shanty go to rot, the white people's clothes turn
to dust, and the Calvary Baptist Church sink to the bottomless pit.
You will spend your days forgetting you married me and your nights
hunting the warm gin Mike serves the ladies in the rear of the Last
Chance Saloon.
Throw the children into the river; civilization has given us too many.
It is better to die than it is to grow up and find out that you are
colored.
Pluck the stars out of the heavens. The stars mark our destiny.
The stars marked my destiny.
I am tired of civilization.





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