Athletes, Activism, & Apple boughs: A DETROIT Poetic Epic

By Dr. John Telford

My good friend and fellow poet John Telford has been a world-ranked sprinter, a championship track coach, a teacher, a college professor, and a Detroit Public Schools superintendent. He remains a lifelong civil-rights activist.

- Blane Smith, All-American Purdue and NFL linebacker

Telford is Detroit's Robert Frost! - Joseph Preville, PH.D., Harvard University

John's Detroit-oriented poetry is shameless kiss-and-tell - and it's brilliant! - Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum, Michigan Boxing Commissioner Emeritus

This All-American athlete and physical marvel tells poetic tales of love and ecstasy with a blunt, unruly truth that transcends the tyrannical rules of decorum. - Sunanda Samaddar Corrado, Ph.D., Columbia University

Dr. Telford's autobiographical verse is evocatively erotic, and he's also a poetic genius. - Mildred Williams, Coordinator, the Detroit Poets & Authors Society

Coach Telford is a legend. - Spencer Haywood, NBA All-Star forward

Herein are fascinating pages of Detroit's athletic and civil-rights history, also recounting this busy Bard's AMATORY history, as well. - Greg Dunmore, Pulsebeat TV Arts, Entertainment, and Culture journalist, Detroit

John Telford has fully tasted the forbidden fruit. - Willie Wooten, vice president (retired), Detroit Public Schools Organization of Administrators and Supervisors

I'm going to read this poetic masterpiece over and over again! Come and join me! - Greg Thrasher, radio and TV commentator, Washington, D.C

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662446610

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Athletes, Activism, and Apple boughs

A DETROIT Poetic Epic

Dr. John Telford

Copyright © 2023 Dr. John Telford

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 978-1-6624-4660-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-4661-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword By The Poet

INTRODUCTION by MILDRED WILLIAMS, COORDINATOR of D.U.P.A.A.S. (DETROIT UNITY POETS & AUTHORS SOCIETY)

Ten Prologue Poems

LEAVES OF ICE

POETIC PRANCINGS

THE WRITING OF POETRY

AMERICA, MY LOVE

PEACE ON EARTH

THE POET & THE CLOWN

BLUE SALT

SOME LIONS HAVE ESCAPED!!

ICE AND FIRE

MY *UBIETY

DETROIT, 1922: BETWEEN WEST GRAND BOULEVARD AND FERRY PARK

THE MOTOR CITY TYCOON

THE WORLD-FAMOUS ‘FIGHT OF THE CENTURY'

OUR PETROLEUM PETROPOLIS

THE ICEMAN COMETH

A GAMBLING-DEBT COLLECTION FOILED!

1943: MY FAITH AS A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD ON 16TH STREET

*SHOAH—A Poem of One Word

THE *PROPHESY

AUNT MINNIE'S FAT ANKLES

MY BAD BABYSITTER

THE TIME I ASKED SOMETHING STUPID

MY DADDY'S NOT-SO-GOOD IDEA

SEIG HEIL! (NOT!)

THE THIRTEENTH HOUR (my decades-old poem revisited in 2021)

A PARABLE

‘RAPSCALLION': A BAD DOG AND HIS BAD BOY

1946: THE SWORD-FIGHT

1947: A McGRAW-STREET LIMERICK

BONNY BRAIDS

BIG BULLY BILLY

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

ONCE UPON A CARNIVAL IN CORKTOWN

1946: IN MRS DONOVAN'S 5TH-GRADE CLASS

BIG DELILAH ON THE SLY

THE TIME I CONTEMPLATED MAYHEM

HANDSOME J. D. JAZZA

LITTLE CAZZIE CANTY, circa 1947

BONNIE & JOHNNY: THE BIKE RIDE

MISS LAVONNE FOOTE (a couplet written in 1948)

THE DISAPPROVERS

SHIRLEY THE GIRLIE WITH FLAMING RED HAIR

THE BOY WHO BROUGHT THE RAIN

*TWELFTH STREET AT McGRAW, IN WINTER

MY CUTE LITTLE COUSIN RUTH ANN

1949: ON LILA'S THIGHS IN OLD JULY

FAST EDDIE

SWEET ‘NITA MAUREEN

GREEN-EYED NORA OF THE GOLDEN HAIR

TRANSPLANTED KENTUCKIANS

ONCE UPON A STUPID TIME

DOWN IN A COAL MINE

LITTLE NEVERFULL (written in 1949)

A FRESH-FACED FRESHMAN

MI CARMENITA DELICATA AND THE TWO 16TH-STREET RAT HEADS

NOSTALGIA

IN THE DETROIT GOLDEN GLOVES, WINTER, 1952

1952: HOW I ENDED UP ENROLLED AT DENBY

IN THE CELLAR OF OLD DENBY HIGH! (written in 1952)

JOOVIE AIN'T GROOVY (written in early 1951)

SPRINTER'S SURPRISE

ALVIN SCORE, VIOLIN VIRTUOSO

IN HYDROGEN HOTEL

PRIDE (written in 1952)

LIVE & LOVE

MY BAD

OF TWO IMMORTAL RUNNERS AND FARAWAY MUSIC

FOR EMMETT TILL (written in 1955)

SUGAR, POUND-FOR-POUND

BEWARE! (written in 1956)

I, PEGASUS

THE POET IN PREP SCHOOL

PHILOSOPHIQUE

HOW A BOY SHOULDN'T—AND SHOULD—CLASP A GIRL

COACH JACK RICE

RUSTING MUSTANG

MY ‘SIX-PACK'

NCAA ALL-AMERICAN CERTIFICATE: QUARTER-MILE DASH

IRENA: THE SEQUEL

THE GROTTO OF REGRET: AN IRENA POST-SCRIPT

FOR MY GENTLE COUSIN JANET, 1934–1953 (written in 1953)

A FOOLISH FELONY

THE OCEAN IN AUTUMN ON A PIRATE *SHIP (OR ON ‘OLD IRONSIDES')

VIRGINIA'S VAGINA, 1953

ONE SUMMER NIGHT IN '53

MOTOWN STREETS & ‘MOUNTINGS' REMEMBERED: AN AMATORY EPOCHAL EPIC

A BLESSING—AND A CURSE

LET YOUR REACH EXCEED YOUR GRASP

ON AUTOBIOGRAPHY

‘LUV' IS A WORD

BLACK LIVES MATTER

THE CLIT IS IT

BACCHANAL

STILL LIFE: ODE ON AN OBIT

ON CLAIRMOUNT, WEST OF TWELFTH STREET

THE SEASHORE AT SHANGRICA (written in 1956)

CHIAROSCURO: A COMPOSITION IN BLACK, WHITE, & GRAY

JIM CROW—NORTHERN STYLE

PRINCESS CANDY

TWO GENTLE INTELLIGENTSIA

ROVING RALPHIE FROM THE ISLANDS

RITUAL OF THE RED HAZE

ODE TO GIOVANNI SCAVO

THE CRUCIBLE

FOR JEROME J. CATALINA

1958: THE GAZELLES THAT ONCE DWELLED IN THE TREES

CITY MILE CHAMP TOM BLEAKLEY

JOKE NUMBER-ONE (a practical one)

1958: ‘BULLET BILLY' SMITH

IRA MURCHISON, OLYMPIAN

TO THE GHOST OF MY BIG BLOND COUSIN CARL (Carl was born in 1935. He passed in 2003.)

MY GODSON RICK

THE BLOOD-RED SASH (written in 1958)

INDIAN VILLAGE, 1960

TEN FROM THE BIG TEN (I think I wrote this around 1960 or 1961)

GHOSTS OF GETHSEMANE

GREAT *GEORGE OF JAMAICA

MY ‘DOPPELGANGER'

NOTHING SATISFIES LIKE NOTHING (written in 1961)

I BRAKE FOR ANIMALS

AS I PASSED NEAR TANGIER LAST YEAR

FASCISM & CLASSISM

THE GREAT GRAY GHOST

THAT WONDROUS GEORGE WESSON

*REX REBORN (written in 1962 or 1963)

FROM NOVEMBER SKY (for JFK, 11/22/'63)

HURTLING HURDLER HAYES

THE RIDDLE (written in 1964)

A SECOND RIDDLE

A THIRD RIDDLE

‘DETROIT RED'

THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS WEDDED TO AN *INDIAN

STATE TWO-MILE CHAMP KEN HOWSE

FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND JOHN BROWN

THE PUSHBUTTON PRAYER (written in 1966)

MUHAMMAD ALI

RARE RELAYIST REGINALD

FOR STEVEN D. TELFORD

SWIMMIN' IN WOMEN (‘Wimmin')

SPENCER HAYWOOD, ALL-PRO FORWARD

THE GAMBOLING GUY

YESTERDAY IS TOMORROW

TZITSKAS: WHEN, WHERE, AND WHOSE??

SWEET MORRIS SWEETKIND OF CHESHIRE ACADEMY

FOR ANDRÉ

A BARE-NAKED LADY NAMED CLAIRE

SHERRY C.

HENRY GERSTHEIMER: IN MEMORIAM

*INVICTUS II: OUT OF HELL'S UNHALLOWED HALLS

DO UNTO

AN OUTRAGE

CUSHMAN OF KANSAS

GALLOPING GLENN (written in 1959)

APRIL, 1968

ELLIOTT HASKINS IN VIETNAM

SWEET EDITH, 1969

MY LATE KATE (Kathryn Katie Yeager)

A ONE-WORD POEM

AFRO-CELTIC SHORES

KATIE'S GHOST

POETRY AS MORALITY—PLUS AS CATHARSIS

CLAIRVOYANCE

PARANORMAL PERIPHERY: A HYMN TO HALLOWE'EN

A DRUNKEN DISAGREEMENT

WANDA-LUST

DISCRETION

ONE RENEGADE'S RESUMÉ

RED-HEADED JO-ANN, 1978

IANHA'S LAND

TWO WARNINGS

KAROLYN & KATHERINE

A CARDINAL EVENT: STUDY IN GREEN & RED

TORI

MAMA, PLEASE TELL US WHY WE HAD TO DIE

SONNET FOR A SAFER SEA (written in 1987)

THE BECKONING (written in 1987)

THE PTA'S PRETTIEST PRESIDENT, 1990

CONNUBIAL CONFLICTS, 1971 and 1991

SLICK *DARRYL AT TROMBLY

‘ARE YOU JESUS?'

WOLVERINE HUMAN SERVICES, 1996

JOHNNY WALKER RED (written in 1998)

A RHETORICAL QUESTION

WOULD THAT MY UNCLE HAD WAITED

MR. SANDMAN'S SICK (written in 1998)

DOZENS OF YEARS OF DEGREES' DOUSING (written sometime in the 1970s)

ON PHILANDERING

FOR SCOTTY: A CALEDONIAN CANTICLE

ROBERT THE BRUCE, SAVIOR OF SCOTLAND

TWO GENERATIONS OF *CELT

THE GROOMING

THE TWO JACKS, JOE, THE ROCK, ALI, AND SUGAR RAY: HISTORY'S SIX GREATEST HITMEN

*CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY (1942—2016)

THE TIME THAT LAWYER BOB GOT INTRODUCED TO ME

JUDITH

‘MASERATI' RICK

TIME

CHRISTMAS CARD in care of THE WAYNE COUNTY JAIL

NINE-ELEVEN (written on 9/11/'01; original title: ‘Horror')

‘HIT-MAN' HEARNS

TOOLING GRATIOT IN MY CADDY

DARKNESS

MY POEMS

BOW & ARROW

THE LIBERAL

A NOVINA FOR GINA

FREEDOM

SWEET, SWEET CRACK COCAINE (written in 2003)

THE ‘MOTH'

OPPOSITES

AT DETROIT FINNEY HIGH, 2004

DARK SNOW: COUSIN DICK AND ME IN THE MEMPHIS LOUNGE on 2/18/'05

DEMOCRACY ENDANGERED

VIVA ZAPATA!

SALVAGING MY SOUL (written in 2005)

FOR CLIFF, 1933—2006

THE 1957 NCAA 440 FINAL: A FIFTY-YEAR REFLECTIVE (written in 2007)

JAMES SCOTT: IN MEMORIAM (written in 2007)

A PRESCIENT PAEAN FOR JAMAAL, Grade 10, Finney High School (written 4/14/'06)

SPIRIT BRAVES

A COMPARATIVE CONTEMPLATION

GEORGE BLAHA & BRUCE WAHA

SHIFTING SANDS

FOUR *REDUNDANCIES:

MY VISION

MY MESSAGE TO THE FUTURE

MY GOD-DAUGHTER *JOY

STATE CHAMPION RYAN AARON

THE SIXTH SENSE

THE *BUSH WHITE HOUSE

THE DEVIL, YOU SAY!

MY MOTOWN: AN *OXYMORON

THE MONEYMEN ARE IN THE TEMPLE

THE DAME WITH NO NAME (written in May, 2021)

A GOOD WOMAN

GRAVITATIONAL GRASP

FOUR ECLECTIC EPIPHANIES

SCORPIA

OBLIGATORY BURDENS

LOST *MANSION (written on 1/1/'11 and revisited on 11/13/'11)

‘WIFE' AND ‘GRIEF' (written in January, 2011)

THE SAME SHIRT (early January, 2011)

A CURSE UPON THE CREATURE WHO KILLED THE LITTLE GIRL

A TEMPTRESS *TART

WOE IS WE

THE DAME WHO TASTES JUST LIKE CHAMPAGNE

HERE'S A POLKA POEM!

INDEPENDENCE DAY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, U.S.A., 2011 (Alternate title: ‘The 4th of July, 2011)

IN A BAGHDAD ALLEY (written on 7-7-'11)

FACES IN THE RUG (written in 2011 after guzzling mucho scotch)

I-TINERANT

A DIRGE FOR KAROLYN AND ME—AND FOR ME AND GINA T.

2 NEOLOGISMS (Republicans, for the word ‘neologism,' you will undoubtedly need to check your Webster's.)

SOMETHING TRANQUIL (written in the fall of 2011)

THE ROUTE OF PHOEBE SNOW

1959: A PHOTO OF MY FLOWER (written years later for ‘Jellybean')

POETICIZING ROMANTICIZED

THE MAD VIGILANTE FROM THE JAVA CAFÉ

SIXTEENTH STREET 1970

HONEYMOON SPOONS (Orlando, Florida, 4:11 a.m., January 10, 2012)

FRANK CARISSIMMI, THE DENBY FLASH (written on May 9, 2012)

RUNNING CAT

THE WOULDN'T-BE BOXER (written in 2012)

THE ABANDONED KITTEN

COMES THE REVOLUTION (written in 2012)

LONG BEFORE MY HEART ATTACK

SUFFER THE CHILDREN

PLEA TO THE LATE JOE HUDSON

LA CONTESSA ADRIENA, LADY OF THE LAKE (written in 2013)

A CAT NAMED MIA (written on October 11, 2013)

NOT 4 SALE (written in 2013)

THE CORPORATE CROCODILES

CONSCIENCE ABOVE CAREERS

IN LIKE FLYNN (written in 2013)

THE CHILDREN OF FLINT

REPARATIONS

JEFFERSON AVENUE, NORTH OF THIRTEEN MILE (written in 2013)

‘WHITE LIGHTNING'—WHAT I USED TO BE

THE LIGHT

FOR DETROITERS RESISTING EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (written in 2013)

MY GRANDSON

‘STRAWBERRY' (written in 2014)

RARITIES THREE (written in 2014)

THE PHANTOM LIGHT (seen—and written—in 2015)

THESE UN-UNITED STATES (written in 2017)

THE LAST TIME I SAW MY GRANDSON

BEFORE CRACKING VERTEBRAE FALLING ON ICE (written in 2014)

THE GORGEOUS GREEK GODDESS METAXIA (written on March 3, 2014)

ODE TO ELLIOTT HASKINS & THOMAS OUTLAW JONES (written in 2014)

MIXED METAPHORS: OLYMPIAN, ARTHURIAN, & PUGILISTIC—FROM THE PEN OF AN OLD SPRINTER-FIGHTER (written in 2014)

WHERE-O-WHERE: A MOTOWN PROTEST SONG (written in 2014)

RED LION RAMPANT (written in 2015)

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (written in 2015)

PRAYER TO SAN JUAN (written on 9/22/'17

GHOSTLY PLANETS (written in 2018)

REFLECTION (written in 2018)

PEANUT BRITTLE

BARRELING DOGS OF WAR: THE CANINE CRUSADE

MY OLD LEGS

OLD MEN

THE CHASE

JOKE (?) NUMBER-TWO

OCTOGENARIAN DRAWERS (written in 2018)

THE EARTH-AFFIRMING SEASON-CYCLE (written in 2019)

THE TURD THAT HASN'T FLUSHED (written in early 2020)

AT THE DETROIT RIVER HOUSE, SUITES 513 & 514: VIRUS BLUES (written in September, 2020)

UNCIVIL WARFARE (written on January 6, 2021)

IN DEAD OF NIGHT

GHOSTS COME IN DREAMS

FLEET & FLOWN

RESIDUE

URBAN RENEWAL, 1980s-STYLE

THE CENTENARIANS, 2016

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! (Alternate title: MY QUEST)

TRUMP & CRUZ

THOUGHTS AT DEATH (written sometime in the 1960s)

WAITING FOR THE END (*written back in 1967)

CELESTIAL COMMUNION

THE GLIMMERING

ZEITGEISTIAN WISHES THREE

MY PROGRESSIVE AGENDA

2 HAIKU

TIMEWORN

A TRUE HAIKU

ON AGING

THE DELTA OF OLD AGE

THE DEPARTED (written in 2021)

FOREVERTIME…

TITLES

*POETIC PRANCINGS!!!

MY ZEITGEIST IS GONE

BURNT BONE

FROM AN OLD MUSTANG

TWO VIKINGS

MOTHER'S ASHES (written in 1999)

EGRESS: THE CLEFT IN THE COSMOS

REQUIEM FOR A QUARTER-MILER

AN EPILOGUE POEM

About Your Old Poet

TESTAMENTS FOR AND ABOUT THIS OLD POET, ATHLETE, AUTHOR, AND ACTIVIST EDUCATOR

Mr. Telford, I think you would have stood on your head if that was what it would take to help us learn. You're going to help a whole lot of dumb kids like me. P.S.—We really liked the poems you wrote that you shared with us—specially the ones about sports!

—An anonymous Detroit Southeastern High School tenth-grade student, in an end-of-semester evaluation of his English teacher—the Author and Poet—and solicited by him, January, 1961

Dr. John Telford is ardently dedicated to racial equity and to providing the best education for every student. He is a rare man in turbulent times.

—Dr. Deborah Anthony, former Director of Technology, Rochester (Michigan) Community Schools (written in 2010)

John Telford's writing is spellbinding. He is the champion of the underdog.

—Dennis Archer, former Mayor of Detroit

Dr. Telford is a living legend, and his writing is electrifying. His lifelong dedication to social equality inspires all of us who seek to make America a true democracy.

—Prof. Josh Bassett, Director of the Wayne County Community College-sponsored Institute for Social Progress, whereupon the Author served as an Advisory Board member

…a seasoned leader in education and social activism.

—Bill Bowles, former Librarian, Detroit's Western International High School

…a great teacher.

—Reginald ‘Reggie' Bradford, educator, former quarter-mile star, Detroit Pershing High School and the University of Michigan

…a fierce competitor and a miraculous motivator.

—Rev. Arkles C. Brooks, Jr., Pastor of Gospel Chapel of Detroit, former quarter-miler, Detroit Southeastern High School—Class of 1961—and Southern Illinois University

Dr. Telford was the Barack Obama of Detroit ‘back in the day.' He also was my all-time favorite teacher. The way he fought for African-American rights really stands out to me. No matter how many bad things people tried to put in his way, he kept on fighting for us. He is truly a blessing from God.

—Roland Brown, Detroit Finney High School Class of 2009—comment written in 2008

Given your irreverent air of pride in poems recounting your many romantic interactions, and given your unseemly choice of transitive action verbs in poems describing some of those interactions, I'm not at all convinced that your late-in-life reformation from womanizing was fully heartfelt and sincere.

—Poet-Laureate of Flint (Michigan) Semaj Brown, in the crestfallen Poet's paraphrased approximation of forthright feminist Brown's frank phone call to the Poet in her honest response to his request to her to write an evaluative comment for ‘Athletes, Activism, & Apple Boughs'

[In the spirit of full disclosure, the Poet authorized Page Publishing to include in this book his {preceding} paraphrase of distinguished poet Semaj Brown's spoken words to him in their April 12, 2021 telephone conversation concerning Brown's disapproving oral critique of some sexually-charged poems in the book.]

Telford's poetry is fascinating, enlightening, sometimes humorous, and often profound. It illuminates both the broad human condition and some of the people and incidents that filled his incredible life.

—Craig Bryson, former Editor of the ‘Rochester Clarion', Spokesman, the Oakland County (Michigan) Road Commission

Dr. Telford was one of the most influential people in my life.

—The late Kenneth S. Burnley, Ph.D.—the then-newly-hired Detroit Public Schools Chief Executive Officer, quoted in a June 7, 2000 ‘Detroit News' article by reporter Brian Harmon headlined ‘John Telford is back teaching in Detroit'

Telford is an urban legend.

—Hugh Burrell, former Columnist, the Detroit-based ‘Michigan Chronicle'

Dr. Telford, you have made history.

—Willie Burton, Detroit Police Commissioner, addressing the Author in a Black Bottom podcast, Saturday, April 3, 2021

Dr. Telford, you're a truly great teacher, but the greatest lesson you've taught (perhaps unintentionally) is a lesson we'll never forget, ever. Some teachers I had used to say they weren't prejudiced, yet they doubted my learning potential and I felt belittled and wondered, ‘What's the use of trying if the race has been won long ago and the trend has been ground in?' You've proven me wrong, and I can humbly thank you.

—Debra Byrd, Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School student in a note to the Author in her final classroom journal entry, June, 1969

…a legendary leader.

—Lloyd Carr, former Head Football Coach, the University of Michigan

John Telford's writing is savagely explosive.

—Hansen Clarke, former U.S. Congressman

from Detroit, Michigan

Telford's burning fury at racism and classism is epic.

—Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., past interim Mayor and past Detroit City Council President

John's clever and predominantly autobiographical versifying—as first exemplified in his 2015 book ‘the lifelong POETIC PRANCINGS of mad John'—is viscerally intimate and irreverently thought-provoking.

—Kelly Conway Fiore, non-profit fundraiser and community volunteer

An All-American athlete and physical marvel, John Telford's accomplishments in sport and in academia have embodied the hopes and dreams of a Cold-War white America even as he raged against a faceless war machine and stood up for the fair treatment of women, immigrants, his black teammates (as well as all people of color), other persecuted minorities, our schools and schoolchildren, and the city of Detroit itself. Here in ‘Athletes, Activism, and Apple Boughs' are also many stories of love and ecstasy in which the Poet speaks bluntly with an unruly truth that transcends the tyrannical rules of decorum.

—Prof. Sunanda S. Corrado, who holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and teaches Anthropology at Wayne County (Michigan) Community College

Dr. Telford is a great teacher.

—Dominick Countryman, alumnus, Detroit Finney High School, Class of 2009—comment written in 2008

A troubadour for truth and a champion for children, this first-generation Scot is a storyteller in the true Celtic tradition.

—Collette Cullen, author of the play ‘Annie Speaks,' Dearborn, Michigan (Annie Sullivan was the deaf-and-blind Helen Keller's teacher)

This book is sensational! Telford is a real hero to some, a real pain to others.

—The ‘Detroit Free Press,' in an April 18,