"Recollection" A Poem by V.G. Grace

This poem came to me one autumn night, as part of a poetry anthology I have an idea for, set in 1920's - 1930's Harlem, New York. Each poem would be told from the point of view of individual characters---both dead and alive. My character's poem is told from the perspective of an unlucky-in-love young woman called Bertha Todd.


I'm very much inspired by the greats during this period such as Zora Neale Hurston & Langston Hughes and am excited about the possibility of ultimately writing this anthology of poems!

I came on a 'Carolina wind,

open,

unschooled;


certain I could take on

the city--

my mother didn't raise a fool.



My eyes were the color of spring green grass.
 

The city had in store for me

somethin' cold and fast.


 

A shabby boarding-house room

was all I could afford--

was no matter.

I was gonna save my money

and trust in the Lord.


 

I met a good-lookin' man with a coolness to his ways.
 

Fell hard,

but didn't know 

it was gonna be the end of my days.



It was good for a piece,

but it turned sour

quick.


I was too simple,

he needed

"a ballin' gal";


I thought him so beautiful,

so slick.


So I did what he wanted--

changing my

face,

body,

and head.

 

Turned myself inside-out,

drinkin' the nights away,

lips painted his favorite color;

blood red.


I did everything he asked 

and more.
 

But one night

he said he'd found himself a different gal--

that I'd become a bore.


I watched his back recede

into the cold

night

air.


I grabbed a bottle of whiskey

and drank

to wasted affairs,

then I bought a bottle of wine

and drank 'til I didn't care.



I started

dancin' wild

in the street.

 

Didn't hear that automobile comin'

or saw it's lights,
 

but my eyes did land on the moon in the sky

before hittin' the concrete.



Don't know why,

but my last recollection 

is mama in the kitchen frying fish--

fresh cod.



My name?

It was Bertha Todd.