We All Killed Elvis Poem by Kyle Schlicher

zealot preachers
smashing
and
burning records
calling him the devil

dj's blind
to what was happening
refusing
to play
the negro music
he was singing

parents
worried about hIs greasy
slicked back
ducktail
and
his sex appeal

teenagers
hungry
for some
of their
own
craziness
in a world gone berserk

friendly
family doctors
who
couldn't
say no to the king

an entourage
enabling
his every whim

elvis was doomed
from
the
very beginning

(8-17-1977)