There was no spring that summer
the days grew hot suddenly
the violets no sooner out than shrinking
and the green earth parched.
The negroes were out on the streets
with whips after midnight
and blood was the dew on our days.
A white teenager (female) was found
split on a stake in the park
and strange drawings appeared in
miscellaneous lavatories.
The white slaves, unhappy, seemed
restless in their ghettoes
waiting for the news of killings,
counting down their numbers til the last
robot policemen trailing his aerial
along Madison Avenue
had his flame extinguished down Central Station
The Dowager surrounded by black guards
found no one had cleaned
the windows of the train
March 1968