ELOGOS Word Food by Deb

Hidden Figure by debgrant
 
Katherine Johnson.
I see you.
Now.
I didn't see you when
I watched the space program
on a fuzzy black and white television.
I was my father's remote control
before there was such a thing.
I was the thing sent to change the channel
or wack the console to
jar it into clarity
or wiggle rabbit ears
to make it work.
 
We worked hard to see
the rocket launches and
the astronaut interviews.
We didn't see all there was to see.
We didn't see you, Katherine
and your coworkers
in office spaces at NASA
calculating figures 
so that the white men could 
shoot a rocket in the air
and know where it landed. 
 
Now decades and geography
away from where I watched
mission control and heard
the word trajectory,
I live across the street 
from NASA.
It is pretty cool. 
I driveby recalling
the days spent 
watching its activities 
on a black and white tv
that I am learning
showed more white
than black. 
That couldn't see,
that wouldn't see,
that refused to see
Katherine and her slide rule
doing her job.
"They needed information," Katherine
said, "and I gave it to them."
 
Katherine Johnson died today.
I live across the street 
from where she used to work
just doing her job
in a world that saw more white 
than black.
I see you, Katherine
Now when I drive by NASA
I say to myself,
that is where Katherine Johnson
worked. 
I see you
now. 
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