WHO BROUGHT THE BLACK POETS IN TIME TO SAVE ME?


WAITING FOR HARLEM RENAISSANCE STAMPS
TO ARRIVE IN THE MAIL, I WRITE POST CARDS
TO THE GRANDCHILDREN CONCERNING HOPE
THAT COMES FROM THE POETS

Those pool players seven
at the Golden Shovel could make
those balls talk smack
that mattered. Stars, stripes,
solids. 8 Ball. Black and white.
Eyes on each other.
Langston hearing it all in Spanish.
Stakes were high.
I was a boy in overalls
that didn't fit.
The teacher that made me
read those poems?
I don't even know her name.
Gwendolyn Brooks wrote that poem.
Where is Mari Evans this morning?
We remember her. Brooks knew how
boys talk because
she listened to them.
Her poem saved my life.
So did that teacher
giving me the poem.

Jim
4 June 2020

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