Redbone, Redbone Have You Heard? Poem by Mahogany L. Browne

Bam got tight eyes
Real tight
He crazy, girl
But he fun to be around
He's so funny
He the life of the party
He the oldest of them boys over on Alcatraz
He love them birds - the pigeons
That's what I heard
He got a cage in the backyard
He got a cage on the roof
He make the cage out of cardboard & wire
He scale roofs
He think he (can) fly
I heard he stole the pigeon from Albert's coop
All them boys went looking for Bam
He just waited for them on the stoop
I heard they went looking through his flock
Heard they ain't found nothing
Heard they ain't believe him
I heard his daddy made him fight them one-on-one
Everybody know they call him Bam cause of his hands
Cause his eyes so tight & you never know when he go boom!
He always had quick hands
That's how he call them birds back home
The rough of his hands clapping & singing loud
That's how he fought them boys
His hands ain't but a blur
He slap against the wind & win
Them boys ain't never forgot
But hell, what they goin' do—he see everything
His eyes so tight you never know what he thinking
He cracked his knuckles & they jumped on him
He clap his hands fast & it sound like a splintered bone
They say the it sound like firecrackers
He say the birds can hear him that way
He say if he clap loud enough they know to come home
He say home with his mouth big & smiling
But his eyes never change, he's so handsome
They say that's how he knew where to hide Albert's pigeon
Say he hid Albert's bird behind the broken board
His eyes shine like crazy laughter man lightning
He got hands like his daddy
His hands are so quick
—They steal anything worth something