“I have seen him climbing a tree while she stood beneath him in unutterable anguish; she had to let him climb, for boys must be brave, but I am sure that, as she watched him, she fell from every branch.”  J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

they say it was the year that changed a generation
the year they met at Nedick’s ordering orange drinks and hot dogs
fomenting righteous anger and rallying the women:
black, white, asian, and assorted berry-browns like me,
hetero and lesbian and some still trying to figure it out

Hey woman, they said to a worker clearing the counter
but they ignored the young man standing ready to serve,
mouths foaming, do you see, do you see one woman yelled,
but they didn’t, they didn’t see him, some woman’s child,
as he filled orders, poker-faced amid the cacophony

© 2018, Jamie Dedes

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

9 Comments

  1. You touched me with your use of words. I have long fought my socially induced racial bias by telling myself, “this is some mother’s child.” You did beautiful work of fleshing this out for me. thanks, Jamie. I hope you are living well.

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  2. Beautifully written and poignant. I like this for its originality: “assorted berry-browns like me”. As you approach the end of the poem one inevitably feels sorry for the young man feeling so lonely and ignored among the crowd. Your words relate to the current issue of the individual surrounded by many people but, controversely, living in permanent loneliness and thus never being able to come out of an oppressing invisibility. Lovely work!

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Thank you!