A Dream of the Ring: The Great Jack JohnsonAuthor(s): George BarlowSource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, The Writers' Workshop: A Fiftieth AnniversaryCelebration (Winter, 1986), p. 49Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20156265 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 01:34

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Iowa Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 01:34:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A Dream of the Ring: The Great Jack Johnson

I'll be the first to chase the white hope from coast to coast

corner him at last

& buckle his knees Rednecks in Reno

will check in their guns & drop their ducats to watch the sun gleam from my teeth my dark muscles

my great bald head

Vamps & debs will blush & giggle as they watch me train

will prance into paradise with me

carve their lives in my back

kill themselves knead my heart like dough

Hate will snag me

jail me for crossing state lines

& being a man

I'll fight bulls in Madrid Griots will feed me to their children

to make them strong

My jabs & hooks sweat & knockouts

my derbies long cars & gall will live forever

I'll have one rag of a time

when I become Jack Johnson

49

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.174 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 01:34:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions