David Campos – Where the Sun Sets – Fresno Writers dot com

The background is a black and white photograph of a row of school desks from the 50s with typewriters on it, broken down, in the middle of a dead grassy field. Diagonally across the page is the repeated phrase “on the rows.” In between them is the following poem. Each line is in between another row of “On the rows.”

They close the middle school on the westside
Where the sun sets
on the rows
of vines
Of shadowing throwing on the paper
Of freshly covered grapes– the paper
I could tell you about raisins,
but the parents
Out here raising
their children
were told their kids
will now be bussed across the city
Because they closed a school
and separated friends
that shared their lunches together
bustling with snaps
of gossip and joy.
Loneliness
looks different
colored by integration
Where the sun sets

Artist’s Statement: In the article “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” Nikole Hannah-Jones writes that “since 2000, at least 71 communities across the country, most of them white and wealthy, have sought to break away from their public-school districts to form smaller, more exclusive ones.” This led to research into my state’s segregation and integration efforts. The rhetoric, the maps, and the data were all there—coded language, school boundaries, and even diversity statements covered the stagnant “struggle” toward integration. As an educator, this project provided context for my experience and those of the students in the classroom. Notes and citations will appear at the end of the project.

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply