In this podcast episode, I talk to Harold Johnson – poet, novelist, musician, artist, teacher, editor, and more. Harold is an African-American man who was born in 1930s Yakima, Washington and I really wanted to listen to him talk about growing up in this time and place. It is only one piece to the story of who he is, but a piece I definitely wanted to hear. So I hope you’ll join me on this journey into 1930s & 1940s rural Washington.
Links:
- Harold’s poetry appears in Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century
- …and in How to be This Man: The Walter Pavlich Memorial Poetry Anthology
Show outline:
- 00m:00s – Introduction
- 02m:59s – The first thing I remember
- 06m:09s – Falling in love with the trumpet
- 09m:42s – On being an athlete
- 15m:15s – It was a big trip
- 16m:26s – Johnson’s got good form
- 17m:52s – We have some new children and they’re Negroes
- 21m:59s – My first sports heroes were white
- 24m:19s – The war
- 26m:05s – Identified as an artist (mentors 1)
- 32m:15s – Girls
- 35m:36s – Buddies
- 39m:14s – Jews from Brooklyn (mentors 2)
- 44m:53s – A flair for writing
- 47m:04s – College
- 50m:27s – Growing up in the Pacific Northwest
- 56m:48s – Harold as a poet
- 1h:04m:19s – You look good! You look good!
Meta links:
- Find out more about this series (and how to subscribe)
- Yuvi’s overview to podcasts and podcast apps
- Download the show directly
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Link to audio