This seems to imply that the college, as well as the education that it provides, is out of reach of Harlem. It also implies that the college, as well as the white students that attend it, is "higher" or better than the colored people who live in Harlem, and they look down on these people. The route that this student takes while leaving to go home, "The steps from the hill that lead down to Harlem, through the park, then [I] cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and [I] come to the Y, where [I] take the elevator" (Meyers) is typical of the struggles that people of color had to overcome at that time in order to attend college, or be successful in any other way. .
Another major theme in this poem is that self-understanding is not a short or easy process. The speaker explicitly states this when he says, "I wonder if it's that simple" (Meyers). The tempo of the poem and the diction also show that self-understanding can be a long, confusing process. Most of the poem has a smooth rhythmic tempo. As the speaker begins to write his paper for his teacher, the tempo of the poem slows down and the words do not flow as well as they were in the lines preceding this part. "It is not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age." (Meyers) is hard to read and forces the reader to slow their pace. This slowing down of pace shows that the reader is trying to figure himself out. The confusing arrangement of the word shows that the speaker may be having difficulty tying to figure himself out.
Through the poem the speaker begins to try to figure himself out by identifying where he lives. The first place he mentions is Harlem, the borough in which he is staying, and proceeds to say "Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me-we two-you, me, talk on this page" (Myers). In saying this it seems that the speaker feels a deep connection to Harlem and feel like he is one with Harlem. He perhaps feels that Harlem hears and understands what he is going through.
