Assemblage: Passport, poem, shoe shine kit, old shoes w/holes in sole, college diploma, satellite dish
H 25" x W 30" x D 5"
(2010)

Sole Soldier (poem on torn passport pages top center)

Shines for a dime
Bootblack says
Yessuh boss
Brings home the bread

Post office wages
Bought bread & clothes
Paid mortgage & utilities

Moonlighting country clubs
Enabled him to stash money
For children’s college fund

Buffalo Soldier paydays
Fattened war chest
To lessen children’s battle
In a Jim Crow world
Provide his babies with
Opportunities he never had

Cardboard and newspaper
Filled holes in Daddy’s
Spit shine polished
Kiwi black soul

© F. Geoffrey Johnson, 2010, All Rights Reserved