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  • The Skirts of John Brown
  • Michael Mlekoday (bio)

an erasure of Henry David Thoreau’s“A Plea for Captain John Brown”

old-fashioned    his faith        inrangers,    escape.     he   concealedthat prairie   by    wear[ing] a        dress.

I know   more of    calves,        fondness,            practice,    Kansas,        accent slanting   wrong, [End Page 122] parched    men,God,    loose morals.        Give me men.    a score or so ofblood    to        fill that office    easy.

He[,]   Spartan,sparingly and  hard,    fitting himself[a] man of        distinguished   yielding[,]   whim    within bounds,            vent   his pent-upvolcano    rapidly [End Page 123] like        force and meaning.    an ordinary [queen].scarcely a man    openly        and   passed[.]his imaginary    Kansasso large    I will   be taken.        I will    fatten easily under        his body or purse.    universal woodenness.head and heart,    bigotry        and bulk,curse [End Page 124]     and   A church,        a new style   andThe modern        dream of    wear[ing] their breasts bare            asthe Liberator,        the            skirts of        John Brown.

        erecting   those who    turn to   shuffling,as many at least as twelve disciples,    crazy John Brown on the   [dance] floor.

fair   maiden,    have   respect for the penetration [End Page 125]             of any man.we defend   our hen-roosts,    mopping the spot.we’ve wholly forgotten how to die.

        Captain Brown was hung.

He is not   any longer he[;]    he        is No man            [but] a sweet                movement    to gratify any        spirit.when you see it,            sing it;    no more        weep[ing] for Captain Brown. [End Page 126]

Michael Mlekoday

Michael Mlekoday is a poet and performer from Minneapolis, MN. Mlekoday is the author of The Dead Eat Everything (Kent State University Press, 2014), and has work published or forthcoming in Ploughshares, Verse Daily, Gawker, The BreakBeat Poets, and other venues.

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