ער קנאַקט מיט די ציין.
He cracks with his teeth.
Work 226 of 440
Page 277. 'Lintsh' (Lynch) continuation. The poem develops a savage critique of white supremacy as theology. The 'vayser got' (white god) with his crown of seven horns evokes both satanic imagery (the Beast of Revelation) and the Klan. The 'sauterner' (Southerner) makes explicit the American context. The black skeleton must perpetually bow — 'in eyn minut zikh tsen mol bukn' (bow ten times in one minute). The bitter lesson: 'er lernt zayn beyn a vaysn beyn lekn' (he teaches his bone to lick a white bone) — internalized subjugation. The white god's 'hey' is both command and condemnation: 'shuldik' (guilty) — the permanent verdict on Black existence. The rhythmic 'knakn' (cracking) suggests both the skeleton's joints and the crack of whips.
ער קנאַקט מיט די ציין.
ער קנאַקט מיט די באַקן: —
ער איז גאָט אַליין:
ווערט ניט מיד פֿון קנאַקן.
ער טראָגט אַ קרוין
פֿון זיבן הערנער —
ער איז ווײַסער גאָט —
אַ „סאַוטערנער
Er knakt mit di tseyn.
Er knakt mit di bakn: —
er iz got aleyn:
vert nit mid fun knakn.
Er trogt a kroyn
fun zibn herner —
er iz vayser got —
a „sauterner
He cracks with his teeth.
He cracks with his cheeks: —
he is God himself:
never tires of cracking.
He wears a crown
of seven horns —
he is the white god —
a "Southerner."
And it's no news
across the world's four corners:
whoever is not white
must lick his feet.
From early to late
in the night of rays
a black skeleton
keeps on falling.
This means: he does
move toward the master
in one minute
bow ten times.
He cracks with his teeth
across the world's four corners.
He teaches his bone
to lick a white bone.
He still dances
a jig besides. —
— Hey, faster, you,
damned Negro.
The white god
is impatient,
his word — commandment,
his "hey" means: guilty.
Page 277. 'Lintsh' (Lynch) continuation. The poem develops a savage critique of white supremacy as theology. The 'vayser got' (white god) with his crown of seven horns evokes both satanic imagery (the Beast of Revelation) and the Klan. The 'sauterner' (Southerner) makes explicit the American context. The black skeleton must perpetually bow — 'in eyn minut zikh tsen mol bukn' (bow ten times in one minute). The bitter lesson: 'er lernt zayn beyn a vaysn beyn lekn' (he teaches his bone to lick a white bone) — internalized subjugation. The white god's 'hey' is both command and condemnation: 'shuldik' (guilty) — the permanent verdict on Black existence. The rhythmic 'knakn' (cracking) suggests both the skeleton's joints and the crack of whips.
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