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Mixed race bathing in east Tennessee (a poem)

Mixed race bathing in east Tennessee (a poem)

Last updated on: August 11, 2017 at 11:05 am by Morgan Guyton

Mixed race bathing in east Tennessee (a poem) 2017-08-11T11:05:32-05:00 Morgan Guyton

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I’ve been to pools
with black people
before

There were
five maybe six
not twenty

And all of them teenagers
pushing and running
where are the parents

Several white men
sit in chairs avoiding
eye contact

I’m not racist
I didn’t say you were
I’ve got small children

So do I
There is nothing wrong here
There is absolutely nothing wrong here

Because teenagers push
and do cannon balls
and yell and taunt and scream

I was a white teenager once
I was loud
sometimes

My youngest son is not
a strong swimmer
these waves

Someone will
be that white parent
go to the desk

Maybe the cops will come
because teenagers are
acting like teenagers

Should I go back and
get my cellphone
just in case

I was a teacher once
It was my job to tell
black kids I didn’t know

To settle down
I had a teacher voice
once

And then a white girl
gets a beach ball
my son is laughing

The white people
toss the beach ball
in the shallow end

We hear the shrieks
and splashes
I cannot read

The faces
of the other white parents
they seem relaxed

I am not racist
I just don’t want my
son to drown

I was a teenager once
I last did a
cannonball

Back in the nineties
now I don’t know
what to do

In crowded pools
so I watch
other people’s children

And try to smile
I’m glad that they’re safe
I’m glad they can be

Teenagers who
act like teenagers
grabbing pushing running shrieking

My son is laughing
soon he’ll be a teenager too
but he’s white

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