Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922.
II. People Who Must24. Cahoots
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What if we steal this city blind?
If they want any thing let ’em nail it down.
And the high goats up on the bench,
Ain’t they all in cahoots?
Ain’t it fifty-fifty all down the line,
Petemen, dips, boosters, stick-ups and guns—what’s to hinder?
If they nail you call in a mouthpiece.
Fix it, you gazump, you slant-head, fix it.
Feed ’em …
But there ain’t no law we got to wear mittens—huh—is there?
Mittens, that’s a good one—mittens!
There oughta be a law everybody wear mittens.