To Repel Ghosts: Five Sides in B Minor

by Young, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9781581950335
• ISBN10: 1581950330
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Pgw

Summary

'80s art-world phenomenon Jean-Michel Basquiat was prolific in his short lifetime, creating an exhilarating new art inspired by music, language, and black American cultural icons. To Repel Ghosts synchronizes the harmony and discord of Basquiat's canvases, adapting them as a bass line to improvise and play upon. Author of the award-winning Most Way Home, Kevin Young here renders ambitious, celebratory poetry of the everyday and the exalted -- a double-album in verse, a jazz symphony, a hip-hop opera -- taking Basquiat's funkified history and making it sing.

Author Biography

Kevin Young's first book, Most Way Home, won the Zacharis First Book Award from Ploughshares, and was selected by Lucille Clifton for the National Poetry Series. Young recently edited Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers, an anthology of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, Callaloo, and on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." He also installed a selection of these poems, alongside Basquiat's works-on-paper, in the traveling exhibit Two Cents.

Table of Contents

DISC 1: ZYDECO
Prehistory
SIDE 1: BOOTLEGS
Campbell's Black Bean Soup	5	(1)
Poison Oasis {1981}	6	(1)
Cadillac Moon {1981}	7	(2)
Space Pork {1977}	9	(2)
City-As-School	11	(2)
Vocabulario	13	(1)
Bros. Sausage {1983}	14	(2)
Man-Made	16	(4)
Canal Zone {1979}
Gringo Pilot {1981}	20	(3)
3 Kinds of Fences	23	(2)
Monarchs	25	(5)
Oleo	30	(2)
Gray	32	(2)
New York/New Wave: Rinso	34	(4)
The Wolves	36	(2)
New York Beat {1980-81}	38	(2)
Times Square Show	40	(4)
Beyond Words	44	(4)
Defacement {1983}	48	(2)
Six Crimee	50	(3)
Irony of Negro Policeman {1981}	53	(1)
Obnoxious Liberals {1982}	54	(1)
Dos Cabezas {1982}	55	(2)
Amateur Bout	57	(5)
Oxidation Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat {1982}	62	(1)
Dimensions	63	(1)
Vndrz {1982}	64	(5)
SIDE 2: HITS
Negative	69	(1)
Jack Johnson: Black Jack	70	(22)
The Upset	71	(2)
The Crown	73	(4)
The Ring	77	(3)
The Fix	80	(2)
Last Chance	82	(3)
Exhibitions	85	(4)
The Race	89	(3)
Notary Public	92	(3)
The Fun Gallery	95	(2)
2 1/2 Hours of Chinese Food	97	(2)
Pork	99	(1)
Eyes & Eggs {1983}	100	(3)
Television & Cruelty to Animals	103	(5)
Quality Meats for the Public	108	(2)
Out Getting Ribs	110	(7)
Shadow Boxing: Jersey Joe Walcott
Saint Joe Louis Surrounded by Snakes	113	(1)
Sugar Ray	114	(3)
B.O.	117	(3)
In Italian: Thesis	120	(9)
Flash in Venice	121	(2)
False	123	(2)
The Italian Version of Popeye Has No Park in His Diet	125	(1)
Popeye versus the Nazis	126	(1)
Catharsis	127	(2)
Onion Gum {1983}	129	(2)
Wine of Babylon {1984}	131	(2)
Battle Royale: Muhammad Ali by Andy Warhol	133	(5)
Cassius Clay by Basquiat	134	(4)
First Class {1983}	138	(5)
SIDE 3: TAKES
Hollywood Africans {1983}	143	(2)
Coke® (The Real Thing)	145	(3)
Crown
Self-Portrait as a Heel {1982}	148	(3)
Self-Portrait as a Heel, Part Two {1982}	151	(1)
Famous Negro Athlete	152	(2)
Gold Alloy Powder	154	(2)
Discography One: Satchmo	156	(6)
Now's the Time	157	(1)
Stardust	158	(1)
Lester Yellow	159	(1)
Max Roach	160	(2)
Horn Players	162	(1)
Histoire De Peuple Noir (Detail)	163	(1)
Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta	164	(4)
Revised Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta	168	(2)
Color	170	(1)
Fake/New {1983}	171	(2)
King Zulu: Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorties on Safari	173	(4)
Tobacco vs. Red Chief	174	(1)
Jim Crow	174	(1)
Lent	175	(2)
Skin Head Wig {1982-83}	177	(3)
Frogmen {1983}	180	(2)
Toxic {1984}	182	(4)
Discography Two: Jazz	186	(5)
50¢ Piece	186	(1)
Quality	187	(1)
Codehild Miles Davis
Piscine vs. the Best Hotels	188	(2)
Black	190	(1)
Black Man, The	191	(2)
Zydeco: Icebox	193	(4)
Early Sound Film	194	(1)
Pick Ax	195	(2)
Langston Hughes	197	(1)
Logo	198	(7)
DISC 2: MOJO
SIDE 4: B-SIDES
New Art, New Money	205	(4)
Collaborations {1984}: Arm & Hammer	209	(5)
Socialite	209	(1)
Alba's Breakfast	210	(1)
Negress	211	(1)
Everlast	212	(2)
His Glue Sniffing Valet	214	(2)
Il Publico Bruto	216	(3)
Fois Gras {1984}	219	(4)
Antar	223	(1)
Nu-Nile {1985}	224	(3)
Warhol Attends Roy Cohn's Final Birthday Party at The Palladium, June 1985	227	(2)
Surfaces: Self-portrait by Andy Warhol 1986	229	(4)
Inside the Forbidden City, Beijing 1982	229	(1)
Andy Warhol Drawn by Jean-Michel Basquiat 1984	230	(1)
Brown Spots	230	(1)
Basquiat Painted by Andy Warhol 1984	231	(1)
Warhol at the Hotel Principe di Savoia 1987	231	(2)
Peruvian Maid or, 3/4 of Olympia Minus The Servant	233	(6)
Venus: Detail of Servant from Olympia
Abuelita	235	(1)
Big Joy	236	(1)
Dog Bite	236
Mad	230	(9)
Last Supper {1987}	239	(4)
Surfaces (cont'd.): Autopsy	243	(4)
Warhol Time Capsule 1980s	243	(1)
Andy Warhol on Television, Miami Beach 1987	244	(1)
Invisible Sculpture by Andy Warhol at Area
Warhol Models with Miles Davis at Tunnel 1987	244	(1)
Jean-Michel Basquiat Eating, by Andy Warhol	245	(2)
Gravestone {1987}	247	(2)
Memorial Mass for Andy Warhol, April Fool's Day, 1987	249	(3)
She Installs Confidence & Picks His Brain Like a Salad	252	(2)
Sketches of a Shark (Still Life)	254	(2)
Warhol Estate Auction, Sotheby's 1988	256	(2)
Collection of Dennis Hopper {1987}	258	(5)
SIDE 5: SOLOS
Charlie Chan on Horn	263	(2)
Savoy	265	(2)
Riddle Me This Batman	267	(2)
Nature Morte {1988}	269	(3)
Light Blue Movers {1987}	272	(2)
Pig Latin
Portrait of the Artist As a Young Derelict: Cheese Popcorn	274	(4)
Plaid	275	(1)
Greenish Skin	276	(2)
Oreo {1988}	278	(1)
Calcium {1988}	279	(1)
Victor 25448 {1987}	280	(3)
The Mechanics That Always Have A Gear Left Over {1988}	283	(3)
To Be Titled	286	(2)
Pegasus {1988}
Riding with Death {1988}	288	(2)
Will (& Testament)	290	(1)
Kalik {1988}	291	(2)
Eroica {1988}	293	(3)
TV Star {1988}: 2 News	296	(7)
11 Webster	297	(1)
Magnum	297	(1)
Thee's Company	298	(1)
Amber Vision	299	(1)
Speedy	299	(1)
Soaps	300	(1)
Pledge Drive	301	(2)
Haiku	303	(1)
The Pictures: Advance Publicity...	304	(3)
Art House Revival	304	(1)
The Late Show	305	(2)
Two Photographs of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris	307	(2)
Pentimento: Dos Cabezas 2	309	(6)
Man Struck Lightning-2 Witnesses	310	(1)
Anybody Speaking Words	311	(1)
Ernok	311	(2)
``Replicas''	313	(1)
Gri Gri	314	(1)
Soul	315	(2)
The Ninth Circle	317	(3)
Epitaph	320	(2)
Shrine Outside Basquiat's Studio, September 1988	322	(2)
Vanitas	324	(2)
Relics: Throne	326	(9)
Cravat	327	(2)
Love	329	(1)
Brain©	329	(3)
One Man Show	332	(1)
Canonization	332	(3)
Heaven {1985}	335	(4)
Urgent Telegram to Jean-Michel Basquiat	339	(2)
Retrospective	341	(4)
Liner Notes	345	(3)
Acknowledgments	348	(1)
Index	349

Excerpts

Chapter One

    1. Campbell's Black Bean Soup

Candid, Warhol

scoffed, coined it

a nigger's loft --

not The Factory,

Basquiat's studio stood

anything but lofty--

skid rows of canvases,

paint peeling like bananas,

scabs. Bartering work

for horse, Basquiat churned

out butter, signing each

SAMO[C]. Sameold. Sambo's

soup. How to sell out

something bankrupt

already? How to copy

rights? Basquiat stripped

labels, opened & ate

alphabets, chicken

& noodle. Not even brown

broth left beneath, not one

black bean, he smacked

the very bottom, scraping

the uncanny, making

a tin thing sing.

    2. Poison Oasis {1981}

Such church hurts--

all haloes, crowns,

coins ancient,

flattened. Crossroads.

Money changes

hands stained

like glass. Mirror,

mirage--the dog

a praying mantis at his

feet. Basquiat eyes

the needle, needs

a fix--if the camel fits--

heaven. Gimme

some smack

or I'll smack

you back. Which side

should he pierce,

where to place

the dromedary

in his vein? Each opening

fills with wine

a wound. Hollowed

ground. Blood

of our blood--

Basquiat trades

Golgotha, skulls

& all, for an armful

of stigmata.

Runs a game,

plays snakes

& ladders, shooting

up. SAMO says: IF SOMEONE

SMITES YOU, TURN

THE OTHER FACE.

Even falling

has its grace--injection

& genuflection

both bring you

to your knees,

    make you prey.

    3. Cadillac Moon {1981}

Crashing

again--Basquiat

sends fenders

& letters headlong

into each other,

the future. Fusion.

AAAAAAAAAAA.

Big Bang. The Big

Apple, Atom's,

behind him--

no sirens

in sight. His career

of careening

since--at six--

playing stickball

a car stole

his spleen. Blind

sided. Move

along folks--nothing

to see here. Driven,

does two Caddys

colliding, biting

the dust he's begun

to snort. Hit

& run. Red

Cross--the pill-pale

ambulance, inside

out, he hitched

to the hospital.

Joy ride. Hot

wired. O the rush

before the wreck--

each Cadillac

a Titanic,

an iceberg that's met

its match--cabin

flooded

like an engine,

drawing even

dark Shine

from below deck.

FLATS FIX. Chop

shop. Body work

while-u-wait. In situ

the spleen

or lien, anterior view--

removed. Given

Gray's Anatomy

by his mother for recovery--

151. Reflexion of spleen

turned forwards

& to the right, like

pages of a book--

Basquiat pulled

into orbit

with tide, the moon

gold as a tooth,

a hubcap gleaming,

gleaned--Shine

swimming for land,

somewhere solid

to spin his own obit.

    4. Space Pork {1977}

1.

Spaced out, a ship

2.

POLICE--

PUT OUT THAT "J"

Comic stripped

YAAAAAA!

3.

THEY CAN SMOKE

THAT CONGO DUST

SOMEPLACE ELSE

says the talking pig--

star on his helmet

face fat as bacon

4.

LATER THAT NIGHT

OFFICER HARDON

WAS IN

THE MOOD

FOR A HASSLE ...

LET ME SEE

YOUR READ-OUT SHEET

Leave me alone

answers the man on

horizon to copship above

6.

I SAID ... GRUNT

Very well--

Sic'm

9.

KRUNCH

Yea Baby

Eat those cops ...

3.

CHOMP CHEW

SMEK

C'mon babe

Let's go home

& fry

some bird--

7.

THE PLANET BLOWS UP

2.

ON A ROCK, ONE SURVIVOR ...

1.

An angel or

a hand

with wings arrives

0.

FLIK--

Sends the man

into space--YAA!!!

no footing, formless

- 1.

Angel smiles--

a ventriloquist's

hand painted with lips

LATER ... THE ARTIST--

    5. City-as-School

Day-trips

in Washington Sq

Park, dropping

out--STONED

ON SAMO. Two hits

of acid a day

& each night

his father Gerard

worrying. Searches

the weeks high

& low. Finds his son

deep in a dice

game with God.

Blood

shot. Drags Basquiat

like a cigarette

back to Bklyn

to his high school

in the city--

"Papa I'll be very very

famous one day"

delirious Basquiat

declares. Hard

headed, mama's boy,

spleenless--

on a double

dare from Al Diaz,

fills a box with Papa's

shaving cream,

at graduation giving

Principal a white face

full of menthol.

NO POINT

IN GOING BACK--smart

ass Basquiat empties

his locker, heads

for the big city

with Papa's cash

loan. GOOD PLACE

FOR A HANDOUT.

EASY MARK

SUCKER. SURVIVING

CHILD WITH SEED OF LIFE--

knows only how to move

forward like a shark

or an 8-track, going

out of style. For broke.

PLUSH SAFE HE THINK:

Only the good

die numb--Bird

& Billie & Jimi

& Jesus--

his heroes

crowned

like a tooth.

GOLD WOOD.

Basquiat begins

with hisself, writes

FAMOUS

NEGRO ATHLETES

on downtown walls,

spraying SAMO

across SoHo--

"royalty, heroism

& the streets"--

covering galleries

with AARON

& OLD TIN. ORIGIN

OF COTTON. NO

MUNDANE OPTIONS.

    6. Vocabulario

cabal

caballero

cacao

cadáver

café

cambio

¡caramba!

carbón

caribe

Carmen

carnaval

carnílvoro

catecismo

célebre

celibato

censor

centrífugo

cerveza

César

cicatriz

ciudad

civilización

combustible

complexión

cómplice

conductibilidad

corazón

corrosivo

cuba

chimpancé

chocolatería

    7. Brothers Sausage {1983}

The trees told nobody

what, that day, we did--

we died. Laid down

with our cans

of deviled

ham & closed

our eyes--two

valises full

of Van Camp's

Pork & Beans--

the city an idea

shining far behind--

& we were not afraid

just terrified

of bears, of basic

black--the night--

white hunters

with their plaid

& pop-guns--

sleep was our bag--

a body--we began

to crave our beds

even empty & unmade

as a mind--

the silence & sounds

of nature scared us--

WORLD WORLD

FAMOUS--

EST 1897

COTTON,

SLAVES, IN MAY A

DERANGED--

this Indian

land given

no heed, taken

back & turned to park--

BEEF PORK SALT

WATER CORN

SYRUP SOLIDS

guns loaded

like a question,

aimed--imagine--

shhhh--be vewy

vewy quiet, we're

hunting wabbits--

DARWIN.

ALLAH. BUDDHA.

BLUE RIBBON.

MALCOLM X

VS. AL JOLSON--

whistling Dixie,

we pack up

like meat--ACME--to

the city--

    8. Man-Made

WELL

   KEPT

     WHITE

CADILLAC--

   Basquiat dead

     broke on Saint

Mark's, marketing

his postcards

like coke

AN ADVERTISEMENT

   FOR SODA

     crashing out

at friend's pads,

   wherever he can.

     THIS GRAPH SHOWS

A TRIPLING OF FIVE

   TO SIX MILLION

     NEW

AND EXISTING UNITS

   WITHOUT PLUMBING.

     Crammed with pals

in photo booths

   taking shots

     WE HAVE DETERMINED

THE BULLET WAS GOING

   VERY FAST--collages

     the Warren Commision,

THE TEAM: RUNS

   HITS

     ERRORS.

Tries to hock

   his J. Edgar Hoover,

     Jack Ruby shooting

or a postcard flag

   to Henry Gedzahler

    & Andy Warhol

lunching

   at WPA--

     Too young

is all the cultural

   commissioner offers--

     IT TOOK THE GUILT

OF 4 GENERATION OF SWEATSHOP WORKER

   TO GAIN ACCESS

     TO THE STATESMAN--

but Warhol buys some dance.

   MILLIONAIRE$.

     15 PER CENT--

Here's a tip--

   sleep

     where you can

till they can't

    stand

     you no more--

cover the doors

   the fridge

     BEFORE THE CRANES

LIFT THEM

   OF THE EDGE

     OF THE 3-STORY

UNIT

   till slumlord

     tosses you out. LOVE.

A GIANT GORILLA

   LYING

     ON THE PAVEMENT.

His name not yet

   nailed up,

     neoned, across town

or bannered

   on the backs

     of bi-planes--

he hustles sweatshirts

   hand

     painted--abstract

on front

   MAN-MADE[C]

     in back.

Cooks up schemes

   like stash.

     Technician

mad scientist

   scorcerer's apprentice--

     SAMO[C] must be

a white cat, they say,

   some conceptual artiste--

     couldn't be B,

this black kid in a lab

   coat & blond

     mohawk

with afro in the back--

   SAMO[C] AS AN END

     2 BOOSH-WAH

ZEE FANTASIES--

   his arrow-head

     or weathervane

pointing out--away--

There had been a lot of talk that the graffiti writer named SAMO

was a white conceptual artist--everybody was up on conceptual

stuff in the '70s. And then this black guy comes in and everybody's

like "Yo Fred, SAMO's here." And the guy who was organizing

this whole scam, which he was calling Canal Zone, tried

to pit us against each other. I remember Jean had this big smile

on his face. He had a blond mohawk that came to a point at the

tip of his forehead, and the rest of his head was shaved in the

front, and the back portion was still intact. It was very bizarre.

He had on a white smock, which was dingy and paint-splattered,

and raggedy shoes, and he came in smiling. Lee and I looked at

him and smiled, and it was like ... there's a thing in the graffiti

world, which is that people know who you are before they meet

you. The writers are always happy to meet other writers. Jean-Michel

was a writer, and he was a fan of ours, and we were fans

of his.

     --Fab 5 Freddy

(Fred Braithwaite)

Copyright © 2001 Kevin Young. All rights reserved.