Peanuts

We never ate peanut butter in our house

not a Jewish food

had to go visit the kids across the street

a white bread family

peanut butter and jelly, not jam

 

So I was mystified by the fuss over  

George Washington Carver

born 1864

he did a lot with peanuts

beyond the butter

such a clever negro.

Every grade school year, 

it was George Washington Carver.

We'll give y'all one.

But only one.

You can have the peanut.

Stick to basket ball.

 

Say the name,

Robert Rilleux

born 1806

chemical engineer

who revolutionized sugar production.

 

Say the name,

Charles Henry Tuner

born 1867

a behavioral scientist 

who pioneered insect behavior.

 

Say the name,

Earnest Everett Just

 born 1883 

an experimental embryologist 

and Woods Hole marine biologist

 

Say the name,

Percy Lavon Julian

born  1899

steroid chemist 

who synthesized medicines from plants.

 

Say the name, 

Katherine Johnson

born 1918

NASA mathematician

crucial to putting 

THE MAN

on the moon.

Say the names.

 

OK so 

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Y'all can have two,

in two hundred years.

You can have him,

plus the peanut.

 

Stick to basket ball.