Yolanda Wisher

Harlem Girl to Langston

I trace your letters,
The "b" to the "l"
To the "u"—

Heard you was a bus
Boy so I don’t fret the after
School shift at Lonnie’s
Between breaks. I
Make you a youngblood.
Love you.

Irene says you’re a light
Bright wouldn’t dig my red
Bone tones, my poems ‘bout
Harlem. But I make you a young
Blood. Sequined dress, beaded
Straps—the toughest streets
Become ballads as you walk
Them with me. Your words,
Blooming out the mouths
Of high school boys
Like rap.

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Yolanda Wisher received her B.A. in English & Black Studies from Lafayette College and is working on her M.A. in poetry at Temple. She is the 1999 Montgomery County Poet Laureate and coordinator of Poetry for the People, a community arts collective that hosts public poetry performances.

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