The Roots f Amiri Baraka

Phrenology

Something in the Way of Things (In Town)



In town x3



Something in the way of things

Something that will quit and won't start

Something you know but can't stand

Can't know get along with

Like death

Riding on top of the car peering through the windshield for his cue

Something entirely fictitious and true

That creeps across your path hallowing your evil ways

Like they were yourself passing yourself not smiling

The dead guy you saw me talking to is your boss

I tried to put a spell on him but his spirit is illiterate



I know things you know and nothing you don't know

'cept I saw something in the way of things

Something grinning at me and I wanted to know, was it funny?

Was it so funny it followed me down the street

Greeting everybody like the good humor man

But an they got the taste of good humor but no ice cream

It was like dat

Me talking across people into the houses

And not seeing the beings crowding around me with ice picks

You could see them

But they looked like important Negroes on the way to your funeral

Looked like important jiggaboos on the way to your auction

And let them chant the number and use an ivory pointer to count your teeth

Remember Steppen Fetchit

Remember Steppen Fetchit how we laughed

An all your Sunday school images giving flesh and giggling

With the ice pick high off his head

Made ya laugh anyway



I can see something in the way of our selves

I can see something in the way of our selves

That's why I say the things I do, you know it

But its something else to you

Like that job

This morning when you got there and it was quiet

And the machines were yearning soft behind