Tag Archives: harlem on my mind

143. Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 5. Flaws

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

A special “thank you,” to Tyler, who was the impetus for me to write this poem. I had thought I completed this series in 2002, but when he said he anticipated the 5th poem, I thought, “uh oh!” I better get out of my “dry spell” and get to work. I  highly recommend him if you are suffering from “writer’s block.”       The poems in this series are: 1. Skin 2. Take The “A” Train 3. Hail Mary 4. Theft 5. Flaws It was 1966, I was a freshman in college, Harlem was one of many suffering parts … Continue reading →

136. Poetry Series: Harlem On My Mind: 4. Theft

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

Shepard Hall, The City College of New York 4th in the series, Harlem On My Mind It was spring, it was warm, the weather was kind; events were not. Theft April 1968 Someone stole the gold Cross pen from atop my notebook.  It was the beginning of a period of suffering and transition.   Soon after, it was announced that The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King had been killed; we filled the mazes of corridors of Shepard Hall; it crowns the North Campus, the building that looks like a huge, regal, fortress of dark-bricked, chocolate cake, adorned with drips of … Continue reading →

128. Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 3. Hail Mary

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

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, … Continue reading →

121. Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 2: Take The A Train

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

Part 2 of a series. original poetry It was 1966 and I was a college student in New York City, at the City College Of New York, in Harlem. ! was dependent on public transit. And on my parents.  I was about to grow up.       Take The  A Train ©3/23/02srk all rights reserved 1966 My dad left me on the platform of the A train on my first day of classes.  My mother told him, “Jack, take her.”  The truth was I had never traveled on the train myself. It was early in the morning when the … Continue reading →

110: Poetry: Series: Harlem On My Mind: 1. Skin

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

Harlem Parade: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Passing in a Car Joseph Delaney, 1971   Collection of The Museum of the City of New York This 1964 Harlem parade honored U.S. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who later served as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor under President Lyndon Johnson. Delaney expressed how the Harlem community felt about Powell by scrawling “Baby, I love you” across the upper left area of the canvas. Memories linked to the black community of Harlem in the 1960’s when I was a college student at the City College of New York. Sometimes … Continue reading →

143 b. Addendum to Harlem on My Mind: decoding poetry, by the author

Cerebral Jukebox Magazine Posted on by

I have decided that an author should speak: A reader is never really cognizant of what is going on in the writer’s mind when a poem is written. I think it would be interesting for us writers to give some extra meaning to our work; the poem then expands and the insight becomes a lesson. If you are an author, please think about augmenting your work with a little background for Poetry Wednesdays. Here’s mine. I wrote this series about a time when I was barely out of my teens, just out of High School, and attending the City University … Continue reading →