Parallel Universe
Two pools lie in Druid Hill Park.
One for the white skinned, the other for the dark.
A high bed of grass grows were ebony feet splashed and kicked and paddled.
Each blade of grass is a soul, sprouting up with a story,
upon a memory of soil where chlorinated water bathed brass beauties like the Blue Nile.
It is still open, Swimming Pool #2
Visible and audible,
a parallel universe,
existing still - right beside
NOW
Peer behind the high unkempt vines that make the cosmic wall,
but do not touch the dark beauty of that time.
Stay within the realms of today and look.
Look through the overgrown vines.
Look with a mind blessed with ether.
Hear the laughter, whistles, squeals of little brown bodies being told to stop running.
See the divers soar through the humid Baltimore air,
possessing skills unnoticed by the world.
Watch the girls flirt and giggle with the lifeguard.
Observe the elders sun themselves as they dream of their past,
while young men and women hunger for the white pool.
See the girl's false fingernails float away in water.
Bask in the warm Baltimore summer of Fifty -two, Thirty -two, Twenty-two.
Journey as far back as you desire.
This is the portal to the amphitheater of the parallel universe,
time honored testimony to inequality.
A history that lasts for eternity.
And moving their lips slowly to speak,
they begin by saying, "There was no polio here."
.Built in 1921, Pool No. 2 in Druid Hill Park served the recreational and
competitive swimming needs of over 100,000 African Americans in Baltimore. Pool No. 2 measured just 100 x 105 (half the size of whites-only Pool No. 1), but proved so popular that the swimmers had to be admitted in shifts. In the South, where the majority of Black Americans lived until after World War II, there were few outbreaks of polio among them. Some argued that segregation made this difference. When major outbreaks occurred, pools were generally closed.
This poem won second place in the 2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 13 contest, and was originally submitted by me using my Poetry Soup account’s prior name.
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