Hi-Dong Chai | + Follow Poet |
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Where Do I Sit

(Austin, Texas, 1955)

I see in a bus
All the black faces in the back
All the white faces in the front
I’m neither white nor black!
Where do I sit?

Greyhound bus station
I see two signs
‘Whites Only’
‘Blacks Only’
I’m neither white nor black!
Which one do I use?
Ask a bus attendant
He scratched his head 
And smiled
‘Go to the wall 
Between two doors’
Then he tapped my back
And said
Either is OK with me
Young man

FIFTY YEARS LATER

I visited Austin
No more black faces 
Sitting in the back
No more 
‘Blacks Only’ ‘Whites Only’ signs

I didn’t have to ask
‘Where do I sit?’
‘Where do I go?’

Copyright © Hi-Dong Chai | Year Posted 2019

Please Login to post a comment

Kim Rodrigues Date: 11/7/2019 11:00:00 AM A great write! Nice not to have to ask. What a crazy world...at times so divisive. Bless you! Login to Reply

Roxane Aristy Date: 10/31/2019 12:52:00 PM What a journey Hi-Dong! I think your seat is poetry and your destination, an inspirational path. Login to Reply Hi-Dong Chai Date: 10/31/2019 1:05:00 PM The first ten years in America, starting 1953, were the difficult years. But now I am a proud America, where a person with a goal and persistence can attain his goal.

Quoth Theraven Date: 10/18/2019 10:12:00 PM Hi-Dong, You've found your seat, and place to call your own. In grace, found wiser for the journey, a place you can call home. -Richard Login to Reply Hi-Dong Chai Date: 10/31/2019 1:10:00 PM The first ten years in America was a difficult one without a penny from home and feeling different from the most of the population. But now I am a proud American because Americ a is a country that is willing to change with time.