Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday roundup is at Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone. She has me thinking about an Artist’s Prayer.  Her photos are stunning as is her words.

An email from American Academy of Poets Educator Newsletter arrived in my mailbox today. It has several offerings for Black History Month.  I discovered this one by Marilyn Nelson. Fitting as we are in the midst of vaccinations.

Making History
Marilyn Nelson 
Blue and White Orlon Snowflake Sweater, Blue Snowpants, Red Galoshes
          —Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas, 1955

Somebody took a picture of a class
standing in line to get polio shots,
and published it in the Weekly Reader.
We stood like that today. And it did hurt.
Mrs. Liebel said we were Making History,
but all I did was sqwunch up my eyes and wince.
Making History takes more than standing in line
believing little white lies about pain.
Mama says First Negroes are History:
First Negro Telephone Operator,
First Negro Opera Singer At The Met,
First Negro Pilots, First Supreme Court Judge.
That lady in Montgomery just became a First
by sqwunching up her eyes and sitting there.

Copyright © 2014 by Marilyn Nelson. From Beloit Poetry Journal, Split This Rock Edition. Reprinted from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.