i.
don’t know Black
don’t think Black
don’t speak Black
but like to listen
hear the sharp breaks
twists and turns
White is privilege.
In COVID
we garden
cook
think bitter thoughts
await a different regime.
ii.
Hasn’t changed yet!
Not for better:
Made the ballot secret
Blacks can’t vote if they can’t read—
can’t win anyway—
Don’t even try!
Only eggheads need good schools
and what do eggheads know?
Bus ‘em!
so what,
got no brains to think with anyway.
Then came jazz.
Music changed.
Boys of Summer
black, winning
Shut the doors!
Keep ‘em out!
basketball
Blues
Hip-Hop
Thurgood Marshall Martin King Anita Hill
strong black middle class
iii.
Who was it
Packed the court,
just stacked ‘em in!
forgetting
They still get to serve us coffee
coughing
while our white blood flows as red as it can get.
It’s time Whites learn from Black.
Mary Clurman, Princeton, NJ, retired Montessori teacher, struggling with the virus news and changing what I can.