.................................
tuskegee lake poem
.................................

the old man had the blackest skin
i'd ever seen
and huge gnarled hands
            disfigured no doubt by bein black
            in the south two generations too early
            though it's no picnic today
he just looked at me
with eyes that hadn't aged
past his first ten years
and nodded cordially
his wife however
showed me her fish
and told me to leave here
unafraid
to put a pencil behind my ear
and open my mouth
cause she had quit school
at 13
and gone to takin in white folks' laundry
so that i could.

.................................
Simone Ray
.................................

 
Copyright © Simone Ray
December 1997

...a poem in this room by Izabel Sonia Ganz...
where we keep the souls
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