Benjamin
Attended a Quaker school only African-American, interested in Mathematics and mechanics, clocks, and astronomy
Lover of ... the stars, planets and creator of 1st Almanac
Who feels ... pangs and pains from his chronic alcoholism
Who would like to see ... he design the lay out for the Capitol Building
and White House published first to publish Almanac
Resident of ...Baltimore Maryland
Banneker
6/15/2022
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. ©2022
A baby was born with carotene skin and left
on a Senator’s doorstep in Washington.
This neonate’s pigment was reddish orange,
bright too, unusually garish.
How will we label it? The lawmakers fretted
when the Senator took it to the Capitol Building
to try and find it a home.
It is not black, not white, not caramel, not pink, not yellow.
It is not an albino, it is carrot-colored.
How will it pay taxes? A Senator married to an I.R.S.
agent wondered. “It will not be able to fill out a W-2 properly.”
What will we label it? The senators all worried, crowding around for a look.
“How about you label her baby?” a visiting four-year-old child suggested.
They speak about rights
they picket in front
of the Capitol Building--standing
holding signs written in markers
about freedoms their parents never had.
in speeches, they talk about
the fight for what their beating hearts
tell them is true.
My heart may lead me down a different path
But
I raise my celebratory glass
in honor of people that
picket, hand out buttons, and write speeches
speaking their minds, while opening
their hearts.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.