Riverside Church and Other Poems

This is a collection of three poems that were written by me several years ago. They are about the Civil Rights struggle that our country underwent in the 60’s. Two of the poems were published in the TMCC art and literary magazine “The Meadow.”

The first poem is “Lamp Post.” I was both fascinated and saddened by learning how often mob justice took the lives of African Americans with impunity in this country. This poem is about the impact this sort of thing had on not just those involved, but America at large.

“Freedom” is about the sit down’s in public restaurants and what protesters endured at the hands of their fellow Americans there. You may never see strawberry malts the same way again.

“The Riverside Church” is my favorite poem. It is inspired by the speech King gave there one year before his assassination. In it he criticizes us for focusing on Vietnam, when we have the poor right here in America that need us more that the corrupt government of that country. I think it speaks to a lot of things America is dealing with now, and is timely because of that.


http://www.jmlamoreux.com/podcst/podcast10112005.mp3