Don Handy

Title

Don Handy

Description

Don Handy wrote a poem about his memories of the summer of 1967.

Publisher

Detroit Historical Society

Date

08/19/2016

Rights

Detroit Historical Society, Detroit, MI

Format

Text

Language

en-US

Type

Written Story

Text

summer of love

we had a riot in the summer of love
snipers shooting
everybody looting
systematic "justice" at the Algiers Motel smoke rising in the air does anybody care?
in the end 43 people fell

we had a riot in the summer of love
looters ruled the streets
those caught the pigs beat
the National Guard camped-out in Chandler Park patrolling the streets day and night Detroit as seen through a gun-sight through which everything is very, very dark

we had a riot in the summer of love
falling asleep to gunfire
the world's gone haywire
tanks rumbling down the streets, mile after mile "Soul Brother" painted on plywood burn baby burn down the neighborhood the jails overflowed to the beach house on Belle Isle

we had a riot in the summer of love
during which I turned ten
no celebration, then
some say it was the beginning of the end others say it was a rebellion an uprising, uppance come a half-century later, did anything mend?

yeah, we had a riot in the summer of love such a riot in the summer of love


Original Format

Email

Submitter's Name

Don Handy

Submission Date

08/18/2016

Files

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Citation

“Don Handy,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed October 9, 2024, https://detroit1967.detroithistorical.org/items/show/368.

Output Formats