Rock’N’Roll
I’ve thought
About the many nights
Of rock ‘n’ roll I’ve spent
In my youth
Hardcore—-
My grandma taught me
How to rock.
She hummed Elvis
While she hemmed my pants.
She liked Elvis.
She liked him so much
That she bought me
A black leather jacket
With zippers and a motorcycle hat
Life Marlon Brando’s
That really honked Mrs. Taylor off!
She kicked me out of first grade.
She said I’d be a bad influence
On all the other kids.
Ah—I didn’t like those snotty-nosed kids
anyway.
They couldn’t rock
Like grandma.
M. L. Liebler is a internationally known & widely published Detroit poet, university professor, literary arts activist and arts organizer, and he is the author of 13 books including the Award winning Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream (Wayne State University Press 2008) featuring poems written in and about Russia, Israel, Germany, Alaska and Detroit. He has taught writing, American Studies and Labor Studies at Wayne State University since 1980. Read a post on Mittenlit about his Michigan Notable Book, “Working Words”.
