Susie Davidson

Our beacon of equality

This tall man
Along with his verses,
doled out equality from the stage.
It was an oasis from the outside world
a platform of justice,
Not sexism, not racism, not ageism could pierce its shield
And not favoritism.
None of that existed at Stone Soup Poetry.

I remember that night.
I mumbled that it was my first time reading
And could barely recite my work amid the applause.

It set me on a life of public speaking
It gave me the strength to voice my viewpoints
I had never received this in my English classes.
Only through Jack.

In the work he did and the words he spun,
He brought honor to the uncommon.
It was nothing to him. Fair to all.
Understood.
Done Deal.

I remember one night when Channel 5’s Chronicle appeared.
Jack’s chance at the bigtime.
Yet who was signed up next?
The most outrageously, not-for-prime-time Lee Litif.
Not a problem.
Jack got up to the podium, and announced his name.

In Jack’s world,
Nothing preempted the truth of the Word
And those who spoke it.
Or every Monday night, rain, snow or shine.
He gave the Slam its first Boston venue,
Before deciding against the competitive air,
The loss of detail to flair,
The Americanized, shouting atmosphere.
It went on to great fame,
But not at T.T. The Bear’s.

Every morning, he would pass by
The New England Holocaust Memorial
And run his fingers along the engraved names
Wishing for a better world.

For Jack, fraternity became humanity.
More important than the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness
And endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights,
He shared them with all.

In his life, and in his ways,
Jack, our patriot of poets
embodied the principles of those famed founders
who once traversed his beloved neighborhood.
And perfected their model.