#ishamel reed

[biblioklept]

Ishmael Reed on John A. Williams' !Click Song

The following essay is from Rediscoveries II, a 1988 “gathering of essays by novelists…asked to rediscover their favorite neglected work of fiction.” Ishmael Reed’s overview of John Williams’ 1982 novel !Click Song motivated me to track down a copy of the book. And while elements of Reed’s typically prickly essay are dated in their contemporaneous references, the essay’s thrust — that the…

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[zizzerzazzerzuzz]

Well it's six o'clock in Oakland and the sun is full of wine I say, it's six o'clock in Oakland and the sun is red with wine We buried you this morning, baby in the shadow of a vine Well, they told you of the sickness almost eighteen months ago Yes, they told you of the sickness almost eighteen months ago You went down fighting, daddy. Yes You fought Death toe to toe O, the egrets fly over Lake Merritt and the blackbirds roost in trees O, the egrets fly over Lake Merritt and the blackbirds roost in trees Without you little papa what O, what will become of me O, it's hard to come home, baby To a house that's still and stark O, it's hard to come home, baby To a house that's still and stark All I hear is myself thinking and footsteps in the dark

Oakland Blues by Ishamel Reed