Preliminary Sketches: Philadelphia

By Elizabeth Alexander b. 1962 Elizabeth Alexander

“I saw a friend from growing up who’s been
living in L.A. for about twenty years, and I
heard him say, ‘I’m from L.A.,’ and I said,
‘No, man, you from Philly. We don’t give
nobody up.’”
—Khan Jamal
jazz vibraphonist

Fish-man comes with trout and fresh crabs:

“Live! They live crabs! They live crabs!”

Bars called “Watutsi.” “Pony-Tail.”

A dark green suit, a banded hat.

The gentleman buys pig’s feet and

papaya juice. He looks like church.

Another man, down Spruce Street, says,

“Yeah, California’s beautiful,

but I ain’t got no people there,

so I came back. I raised a racehorse.

Trainer says he’s mean, but I say

naw, naw. That horse just alive.”

Which way to walk down these tree streets

and find home cooking, boundless love?

Double-dutching on front porches,

men in sleeveless undershirts.

I’m listening for the Philly sound—

Brother brother brotherly love.

Source: The Venus Hottentot (Graywolf Press, 2004)

Biography

Elizabeth Alexander was born in Harlem, New York, but grew up in Washington, DC, the daughter of former United States Secretary of the Army and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chairman, Clifford Alexander Jr. She holds degrees from Yale, Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her PhD. Currently the chair of African American Studies at Yale, Alexander is a highly respected teacher and . . .

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