Red Boots on Avenue A

by Ed Sanders

Some Glyphs from The History of Peace Eye
     This selection of nine comes from a 221–glyph manuscript,
          “History of Peace Eye.”

early April, 1969

I left the Peace Eye Bookstore one early evening
and walked up Avenue A to our apartment
an old dental office with a marble fireplace
at 12th street

I unlocked the door
and then I was rushed from behind
by 2 guys who tossed me to the floor
and one of them pushed a knife
against my throat
chanting, “Where’s the amphetamine,
Where’s the amphetamine?”

I told them I never used amphetamine,
much less sold it
and I swore to God
I wasn’t the one who’d burned them.

Finally, the one in the blue trenchcoat said,
“Hey man, the guy that burned us didn’t have
no red boots on.”

And so my stylish red rock and roll boots
may have saved my life