Poem: Little Richard Gave License

(1932-2020)

Little Richard gave license to me to listen to rock’n’roll. He was the architect, after all. It bounced along underneath and all around the rhythm of his piano lines, the issuing of whoops and hollers and screams – he set it up and we all know what it means because of him. I was eight years old, maybe nine. We had a family cassette tape – 20 …