Cocaine Lil

Pastels on Paper

This expressionistic painting was inspired by an anonymous poem "Cocaine Lil". The work contains some of the powerful imagery contained in the poem.

cocaine lil

did you ever hear about cocaine lil,
she lived in cocainetown on a cocaine hill,
she had a cocaine dog and a cocaine cat,
and they fought all night with a cocaine rat,
she had cocaine on her cocaine head,
a cocaine dress that was poppy red,
she wore a snowbird hat and sleighride clothes,
on her coat a crimson cocaine rose,
big red chariots on the milky way,
snakes and elephants, silver and grey,
oh the cocaine blues they make me sad,
oh the cocaine blues they make me feel so bad,
she went to a party one cold night,
the way she sniffed was sure a fright,
there was morphine sue and the poppyfaced kid
climbing up snow ladders and down they slid,
along in the morning about half passed three
they were all lit up like a christmas tree,
when she got home and started for bed,
she took another sniff and it knocked her dead,
they laid her out in her cocaine clothes
she wore a snowbird hat and a crimson rose,
on her headstone you'll find this refrain...
"she died as she lived sniffing cocaine"