Shephard Hall, The City College of New York

This is the third poem in my series, Harlem on My Mind.  Harlem is a black community in the upper middle section of Manhattan. 

Series: Harlem on My Mind

1. Skin

2. Take The “A” Train

I graduated from High School a term early;  I was in a rush to start college and get my life going.  I attended graduation ceremonies on a cold January night and the next day began my life as a college student at The City College of New York, in Harlem.  I was 17 years old, idealistic, naïve, and impressionable.  After my first term, I decided to take summer courses in my haste to accelerate my life.  That’s where I met Mary.  I hope she is well and happy.  She will always be my darling friend, young and beautiful.  And full of guts.

3.

Hail Mary 1966

Mary Adams was the Cleopatra of

advanced French that summer.

Her skin blackened by the Nile sun

in a previous life when she was queen.

I once leaned against her arm over

Molière, while searching for my pen:

her skin was like

the fallen petals of a rose.

She was 21, and a mother, with no husband,

this onyx jewel with

slow, smooth, speech

that played the background jazz

as we spoke and walked along Convent Avenue.

She was going to leave the Motthaven projects

in the South Bronx,

be a teacher,

was going to make it.

It was the year

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?”

scandalized the screen,

and you had to be of age or

accompanied by an adult to gain admission.

I was seventeen.

She said, in her best, torch song, sibilant-enhanced

melody:

“Don’t worry, Susie.  We’ll just tell them

I’m your mother.”

Yahoo Comments:

Fabulous……

Great description and I loved the ending, it caught me by surprise!