Sos.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

A short, free verse poem, which sounds spoken and incantatory: it is addressed by a man to black people in general, inviting them to come in from the cold. All black people-men, women and children-are most welcome. This much better for them than having the door shut in their face by segregationist whites. In fact, the message of 'SOS' is just the opposite of how blacks were treated in the Deep South, before the civil rights movement.