Anecdotal

All media news
Is anecdotal hence
Unreliable as I used
To tell my students in
History class trying to
Explain how America was
20 percent black in 1776
But 16 percent black in
1860 and 12 percent
Black by 2010 so I
Asked my class
What percent
Black was
Austin
Texas and
The USA today
And they would tell
Me 30 to 50 percent
Black and I would reply
All three were about 12%
Black and I would ask
Them what did they
Base their estimate
On to which they
Replied TV or
The news so
I said all
Media
Is anecdotal
And most looked
Back at me with blank
Eyes asking what the heck
Is anecdotal and I restrained
Myself from answering
Anecdotal was Anna
Karenina’s
Little
Sister.
But eventually
We would get around
To the 1807 ban on the
Importation of slaves
To America and try
To see population
In America like a
Bathtub filling
Up over time
With all the
Peoples of
The world
And slowly
They’d grasp
Percentages but
Hard to see why the
Media never mentioned
Anna Karenina’s kid sister.