Two men got on the Green Line:
One at Harlem Avenue
The other at Austin Blvd.
Never met before
One with kinky, black hair
The other with straight, brown hair, balding
One wearing a business suit, silk tie, wing tips
The other a faded Cubs T-shirt and stained khakis.*
Do you say hello?
What’s happening?
How ya doin’?
Will I get a scowl?
A smile?
Respect?
The start of a conversation?
All they see is the book’s cover
Haven’t read the story
Might be a comedy
Maybe a tragedy
Each makes judgments about the other
Memories get in the way
So many memories
People:
Prince
Cassius Clay
Howard Cosell
Muhammed Ali
George Foreman
George Wallace
John F. Kennedy
Bull Connor
Saul Alinsky
Fred Hampton
Emmett Till
Richard Daley
Harold Washington
Laquan McDonald
Jon Burge
Ernie Banks
Black Panthers
KKK
Bill Cosby
Clarence Thomas
Places:
Selma, Alabama
Emanuel AME Church, Charleston
West Side burning
Appomattox Court House
Pulse Nightclub, Orlando
Decisions:
Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Topeka
Shoot to kill
Voting Rights Act
Is the guy with the shaved head sitting behind me
A Nazi skinhead?
Or just a guy following the latest tonsorial fashion?
Is the woman wearing a hijab across the aisle
Going to blow herself and me up in a minute?
Or wondering if she should say hello?
How ya doin’?
Do my memories help?
Or do they hinder?
Do I take a risk?
Or play it safe?
Are “those people” sinners or saints?
A little of both, most likely
Just like me
Can’t judge a book by its cover
Can’t judge “those people” by my memories
And they can’t judge me by theirs
Do we manage our memories?
Or do our memories control us?
Do I take the risk?
*Which man did you assume was wearing the business suit: kinky hair or straight hair?
