The Poor Are Always Crossing the Sahara

Poems about James Baldwin
(1924-1987)

Feeling invisible in America
James Arthur Jones Baldwin
Jimmy to his friends, step-
father a preacher, angry
fiery man who stood
Jimmy in the pulpit
at 14
at 17
writer, dropout, menial
factory jobs, meatpacking
elevator boy and janitor
earning money to help
support seven siblings
on the streets of Harlem.

A lifelong workaholic
voice full of elegance
in essays, novels
short stories and plays on
masculinity and sexuality
race, class, human rights
civil rights, gay rights
the cultural obstacles
to social acceptance.

As a member of a minority
within a minority
within a minority

artist
queer
black
in a country condemning
all that he was
he left
for France
for freedom
to be visible
to be himself.