Parallel Universe
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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 at all. Some argued that segregation made this difference. It has further been discovered that many cases among Black Americans were not reported. During outbreaks of polio, swimming pools were closed to decrease the spread of the disease.
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.
Peer behind the high unkempt vines that make the cosmic wall,
but do not touch the dark beauty of that time.
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.
This is the portal to a parallel universe,
time honored testimony to inequality.
And moving their lips slowly to speak,
they begin by saying, “There was no polio here.”
04/15/15
Copyright © Janis Thompson | Year Posted 2016
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