Cassius Clay by Basquiat
1997; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/cal.1997.0068
ISSN1080-6512
Autores Tópico(s)Publishing and Scholarly Communication
ResumoCassius Clay By Basquiat1982, acrylic & oil paintstick on canvas Kevin Young (bio) I’m pretty!I shook up the world! Clay shouts to the announcer after trouncing Sonny Liston— the next day he will turn Ali. Butterfly, bee—none stung or swole carpet-red as the paint B covered this canvas, drawing blood—not even Cassius called out his name. Refusing to recognize Allah—like Terrell or fool Floyd Patterson— will get you a new haircut, whether you want one or not. How he hounds [End Page 294] Liston, waving his prize belt— a noose for Sonny’s ex- con neck. Petty crook. Ali just bout serves time himself —title stripped like paint —Army taking away his right to fight when he won’t fight them Viet Cong who’ve done him nothing wrong. Houston, we gots a problem—will not bow or stand when his no-longer- name the Draft Board calls. Lords over Liston —Get up, you bum! —who will fall to a phantom punch 1st rd, forget to get up. (Died, Liston did, five years later, in Vegas, the needle in his arm, the neon.) Ali, now he could hit you [End Page 295] into next year— but apart from the flogging, his flaunting, were the taunts challengers heard ringing Uncle Tom! Come onCome on White America! even above the ten count & crowd—his undented smile— that smarts still. Kevin Young Kevin Young, who was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, is author of Most Way Home, a volume of poems. He teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Georgia, Athens. A graduate of Harvard, he recently received the MFA degree at Brown University. Copyright © 1997 Charles H. Rowell
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