JACKIE ROBINSON

the uniform and ball

are white but Jackie is

New Jersey

Harlem   separate drinking fountains

empty seats

at the back

of a southern bus

my world is on fire

my world is Sunday

and someday

Jackie in his uniform

White enough to be America

but now Jackie shines

like Louis Armstrong

like a preacher

in the church

he’s the rock

the hidin’ place

the uniform and the ball

and Jackie Robinson Negro

EBONY

My father labored

in the mine his

hands blacker than

his face

face as black

as

coal      his hands

darkest

coal dust

my mother

a fair skinned

woman    former

schoolteacher

worked at home

read the Bible

and prayed &

I became

 

An Apron Full of Beans: New and Selected Poems

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