African American Poetry (1870-1928): A Digital Anthology

Allison Davis, "Physician" (1928)

Physician

You find real pleasure in your work—
Taking liberties when you examine women,
And joking about it later.

You prosper
By prescribing dope to the slum Negroes
For medicine,
And taking their money with no serious effort to help them.

When you have made your “pile”,
You will move as far away from the Negro section
As you can go.


Published in The Crisis, March 1928