For Andy Warhol

Nico, and the Velvet Underground

(The Exploding Plastic Inevitable Tour 1966)

This Exploding Plastic Inevitable poem by Jack Fritscher, written for Andy Warhol, Nico, and the Velvet Underground, takes the 1966 tour into a world of leather, chains, boots, and whips. It ends with a warning: God will get you if you don’t watch out.

Chains on shiny
shiny boots of leather
musk of black jackets
hung in a row

Come on Monday
Wednesday Thursday
Come on Friday
See the show

Crack of whip
iron-studded leather
drip of wax on
sweating skin

Outside the door-bolt
rev of motor cycles
Iron Crosses
Come see the show

Stretched like Jesus
by shiny boots of leather
God will get you
if you don’t watch out