"headman hoodlum doodling then I wouldn’t be long gone"

Question

Hi,

I've been trying to translate the stanza below from a poem by Harryette Mullen into Portuguese. The problem is that I cannot understand the meaning of "doodling" in the sentence. And it is confusing the presence of "then I". The two parts of the sentence (before and after "doodling then I") don't make sense to me. Could you "translate" the whole sentence into an explanation, please? (I know that a poem can have different meanings, but at least one would be fine for me : ) )

Thanks a lot, Laumont.

"headman hoodlum doodling then I wouldn’t be long gone I’d be Dogon"

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Lotsa luck! I have no idea what this means without reading the whole thing - and maybe not even then!

The trick of following one word with a similar sounding word is really going to be tough to translate!
This is not your usual rhyme scheme.

Laumont · Answer

Hi,

This is the entire poem. The part I can't undertand is in yellow. Any suggestion is welcome.

Thanks, Laumont

"the backwoods deflated whip

blank skies

rag dolls made of black scraps

with pearl button eyes

random diva nation of bedlam

headman hoodlum doodling then I

wouldn’t be long gone

I’d be Dogon

down there shuffling coal

humble materials hold

vestiges of toil

the original cutting tool

splendid and well-made

presenting no disturbance

the natural order of things

between man and himself"

Avangi · Answer

random diva nation of bedlam
headman hoodlum doodling then I
wouldn't be long gone
I'd be Dogon

This is really tough. I don't know how much of this second stanza is just for sound - the pairings of similar sounding words - if the words represent images independent of one another, or if the word groups have meanings in a symantic way. As far as grouping goes, the punctuation doesn't help much, nor does the line arrangement.

How do you take "headman"? I see a Google ref. to some rock song "headman catch me if you can" I don't know if it's "bossman" or "headsman" (who chops off your head)

bedlam - headman
hoodlum - doodling
long gone - Dogon

How are you going to translate these pairings of vowel sounds??

This stanza has the only personal reference in the poem (the two I's)

There seems to be some allusion to violence, possibly directed at the author.

I take "doodling" as sort of busywork - or whatever one does

"bedlam" is violence. If the hoodlum headman works his violence on our guy, then, normally, he'd be "long gone," or dead; but instead he'll be Dogon, which may mean something modern, but I take it as the old expression, "Well I'll be dogone!" - an expression of surprise and wonderment.

This probably amounts to "little-to-no" help. Good luck! [Y]

Laumont · Answer

Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Laumont

"headman hoodlum doodling then I wouldn’t be long gone"

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