Poetry Friday: Pairing a Poem and a Book

Head over to Reflections on the Teche for this 

week's round-up of poetic goodness. Margaret Simon

is hosting this week. She kicks off our Friday fun

with a sonnet inspired by Molly's photo as part of a

recent geographic photo/poetry exchange.

Thanks, Margaret for hosting our gathering this week.

Sometimes the best laid plans get changed. And that's what happened to this Poetry Friday post. I had planned to share a book that I discovered last month in the poetry section at the middle school where I used to teach. But when I opened today's Poem-A-Day to  discover "My Love is Black" by DéLana R. A. Dameron, I knew I had to share this poem. Here are a few lines from the poem that juxtapose a lovely evening with ever present fear:

                       " ...But
here we are: walking
hand in hand
in our parkas down
the avenues & he pulls away
from me. I might be
in some dreamy place,
thinking of the roast chicken
we just had, the coconut peas
& rice he just cooked,
& how the food has filled
our bellies with delight. How
many times can I speak
about black men
& an officer enters the scene?

..."

This poem immediately reminded me of Ghost Boys, a book by Jewell Parker Rhodes I recently finished that continues to stay with me. If you haven't read it, put it on your summer reading list and tuck this poem into the book.