baltimoreblackwoman

Jocelyn Garlington, a teacher (Baltimore Free School; Baltimore City Public Schools), poet (Then and Now Poems, Blue Plum Press, 2022; student of Lucille Clifton), and visual artist who left a deep and lasting impact on the lives of so many people through her many gifts and talents, passed away on December 14, 2024, after suffering a massive stroke two months earlier. She leaves behind her brother John Garlington and a host of neighbors, friends, colleagues, and followers of her work.

On Sunday, February 2, 2025, her dear friends, poet Chris Mason and colleague Naomi Hill hosted a Memorial Reading of Jocelyn’s poems at Normal’s Bookstore on 31^st Street in Baltimore. Attendees read selected poems from Jocelyn’s self-published collection, Then and Now Poems (available on Amazon.com) and from her final manuscript, Here and Now Poems. They also watched videos of Jocelyn reading her poems and shared their memories of her life and work.

I wrote the following poem two days before the Memorial and presented as my shared memory of Jocelyn.

Jocelyn and Me

First Meeting:
The courtyard of Old Western High School, Howard at Center Street, 1966.
I, a 13-year-old Freshman; Jocelyn, a 15-year-old Sophomore, 
two Libras, born exactly 2 years and 1 day apart.

Introduced by our soon-to-be forever friend,
and future jingle singer, vocalist, and visual artist, Aleta Greene,
we formed a five-member Black Hippie Tribe
with Paulette “Mingo” Miller and Debbie Monroe. 

Our Benign parents supported our freedom to be.
We hung out where all the Baltimore Hippies met—
Maryland Institute, Abe Sherman’s Bookstore, and Read Street.

Even our Pied Piper, poet David Franks, 
was welcome in all our homes.

At sleepovers or weekend visits,
we played rock and folk music records—
Joss’s parents Luther and Bernice,
did a funny dance to
“I Am the Walrus, Cookoo Ca-Choo.”

We sang and played our guitars—
Aleta and I on 6-strings, 
Jocelyn playing left-handed
on her magnificent Yamaha 12-string.
(I just had to have one too—this one, right here.)

The Tribe dubbed  me Magic Fingers
after I played our favorite songs
on the Garlingtons’ piano.

After high school, Paulette and Debbie peeled off,
to follow different paths.
Aleta, Jocelyn, and I stayed close,
although our paths sometimes diverged, too.

Between my classes at Goucher,
I’d visit Jocelyn at Morgan State
at the Student Union,
or meet up with Aleta at Maryland Institute.

Though our career paths differed,
our life paths crisscrossed.
Our love of music and language kept us together,
by phone, letters, and later,
by emails and texts.

Jocelyn and I found each other again
during the Pandemic.
We emailed our poems to each other 
and talked often on our cell phones.
When she launched her poetry collection,
Then and Now Poems,
we had a grand, in-person reunion,

Followed later by a poignant co-reading
at Pups and Poets in Leakin Park,
last August,
just before the first of two strokes felled her.

We lost Aleta last November.
I lost Jocelyn a month later.

 

For more information, click the following links. Writeup of the Memorial Reading by Rupert Wondolowski (from Normal’s Books and Records): https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15MHAX7a7K/.

https://www.instagram.com/jossgarlington?igsh=ZGczN3lnOGFteXJo for Jocelyn’s artwork.https://www.instagram.com/westbaltimorepoet?igsh=MWZ4eGV4OTg5eXludw== for Jocelyn’s poetry.