Book Review: Mel King's 'Streets'

Streets, by Prof. Mel King

In his book of poems, Mel King provides an understanding of what it means to be from the South End to those of us from other neighborhoods. In Streets, he documents his involvement and committment to Boston.  

The book  became a project of his in 1928, the year he was born. As he involved himself with the community and focused on helping others, specifically young people, he collected thoughts on how urban neighborhoods and urban life function. While on a trip to Cairo, Egypt, Mumbai, India, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a group of students, he asked them to notice the difference between a house and a home. Although many of the people they encountered lived in houses made of cardboard, wood panels, or metal sheets, the quality of their relationships with others had little to do with their lodgings.   

"What came out of it was looking at the lifestyles of the people we were visiting. As I thought of that, I looked back into my own life on these streets and how it impacted me," said King.

King has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University as well as a dedicated activist for human rights. He is most noted for his landmark race for Mayor of Boston in 1983 when he became the first African American in Boston’s history to win a mayoral primary.

King has said that Streets is very much a work in progress that he hopes will encourage readers to reflect on the role streets play in their own lives. His favorite part of the book, he says, is the last page: a blank space on which he invites you to “draw your street.” 

Streets, published in 2009, is available at area bookstores and online.