by Sterling Plumpp © <psterlin@uic.edu> (October 14, 1998)
Sterling Plumpp was born in Mississippi and came in Chicago in his teens. He is a Professor of African-American Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a poet, a frequent visitor to Maxwell Street, and was a principal interviewee in the Discovery Channel series on the Great Migration, The Promised Land. This poem is presented here with permission from the author.
My father was a junk
peddler
--
…………this miss
is sip
pi roots of long
nights I drink
--
This is my history
Maxwell Street
--
………..mini Clarks
dale montages Neja
collages poor
immigrants Where blues
is born Maxwell
Street My father
--
brought me here
when I was eight
--
This is my history
--
I broke in my chops
down here Maxwell does
not need any "culture"
--
My father was a junk
peddler The Walker with
--
out Johnny red or black
tie Maxwell
Street is a notary
republic of crying
poor immigrants mini
Clarksdale Saturday
rites of laughter
--
I ask for medicine
they give me muddy
water logged paths
down a harmonica's
voices My father was a
junk peddler This is
--
my history
xxxxSterling D. Plumpp
Click here to read Sterling Plumpp's comments about Maxwell Street from the Chicago Tribune, April 13, 1993.
return to Preserve Maxwell Street