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