a foreign land
Display at Jim Crow Museum of Memorabilia
I’m 71/2 years old. We just moved from California to a rural neighborhood 15 miles from Savannah, Georgia. It’s 1951.
Today we drove
Out of our long driveway
Into a foreign land
Don’t stare, Elouise
Those are colored people
They were born that way
Which means
Many things you can’t
Understand just yet
See their small gardens
And rows of cheery flowers
In front of their homes?
And look!
That woman just waved
At us driving by
She’s even hung out
Her handiwork
A handmade quilt
Isn’t it lovely?
I wish we had enough
Money to buy it
Adults and children smile
When we drive by
Some even wave
It’s as though they already
Knew us even though
We’ve never met
Indeed
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 15 September 2020
Photo of Jim Crow Memorabilia found at ferris.edu