White Male
Sean Taylor 1968 (Georgia)
I’ve studied and examined the
Culture and history of others,
Even imagined, or tried to imagine,
Myself in their places.
At times, I thought I could
Hear the cheers, smell sweet freedom,
“Free at last, free at last,
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
The photograph is a still frame in my memory,
A Time memoir, a pictoral legacy, but
I never saw the hero crumble and fall,
Never felt the blood spatter on my shirt.
Though I can recreate the scenes like ancient newsreels,
They are empty, insubstantial, without the sensations
To make them my own—
If I am honest, I have to admit:
I’ve never felt the sting of a master’s whip,
Cared for the yellow bastard children
My wife bore of a white man’s curious lust, nor
Heard Jim Crow’s disembodied voice
Assign me to a seat, or send me around the corner
To drink water from a colored fountain.
© Sean Taylor
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Submitted by seanhtaylor on May 20, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 7 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XXAXXXBBXXXXXXXXXAXXCA C |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 853 |
Words | 159 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 22, 1 |
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"White Male" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/100477/white-male>.
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