Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
The Boys of Summer
Carlton, Patrick and I
are waiting for autographs
outside Yankee Stadium. The summer
of 1960 and Mazeroski has not hit
the home run which will break our
hearts. We are years away from
memories of our wives and our children.
On this day we see Mickey Mantle coming
to work, his uniform of stripes waiting
inside. We run to catch "The Mick" to
have him sign his name on whatever we
own. Our lives sheltered from segregation.
Our mothers talking about Jackie Robinson
and how Willie Mays learned to catch a ball
while turning his back, running full speed
as if he were Emmett Till.
Written by E. Ethelbert Miller
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