James Wlech - Harlem, Montana; Just off the Reservation - Jenna Pelosi

James Welch – Harlem, Montana: Just off the Reservation - pg. 630
In this poem I was able to connect with the poem because of a family “joke”. When my sister, my dad, and I would “fool” around with her or “pick” on her in a joking manner, my mom would always reply back to us, “You’re all going to miss me when I am gone, and I move to Montana” . And we would always ask, , “Why Montana?”, and she would reply, “Because no one would bother me”. And now Welch compares Montana with Harlem. As I read the poem and try and place myself in the speakers place, I find my tone as a marker of selfhood come into play. For example, as I read the poem to myself, I pick up a threatening and angry tone in my voice as I read along, as if I was saying the words myself. The poet I feel is bring me back to earlier times, where black’s (down south) or immigrants (in New York), were predominately discriminated against. The speaker states, “Goodbye, goodbye Harlem on the rocks, so bigoted….Turks are not white, they are olive, unwelcome, alive in any town” (Welch, pg. 630). Not only is that statement very poignant, it brings me to a time of inequality and hatred. Also, earlier in the poem Welch says, “Disgusted, busted whites are running for office in this town” (Welch, pg. 630). The fact that Welch had to emphasize the color of the skin of each person, presents the reader with the knowledge that race is an important factor in this time period.