| Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. |
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| II. People Who Must |
| 24. Cahoots |
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| PLAY it across the table. | |
| What if we steal this city blind? | |
| If they want any thing let ’em nail it down. | |
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| Harness bulls, dicks, front office men, | |
| And the high goats up on the bench, | 5 |
| Ain’t they all in cahoots? | |
| Ain’t it fifty-fifty all down the line, | |
| Petemen, dips, boosters, stick-ups and guns—what’s to hinder? | |
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| Go fifty-fifty. | |
| If they nail you call in a mouthpiece. | 10 |
| Fix it, you gazump, you slant-head, fix it. | |
| Feed ’em … | |
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| Nothin’ ever sticks to my fingers, nah, nah, nothin’ like that, | |
| But there ain’t no law we got to wear mittens—huh—is there? | |
| Mittens, that’s a good one—mittens! | 15 |
| There oughta be a law everybody wear mittens. | |
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