And apparently it's Poetry Month!

[labellementeuse]

You guessed it: this means I am going to poetry spam you every day until the end of the month. FEAR ME.

Todays' featured artist: Langston Hughes, 1902-1967. Awesome dude. Black poet who wrote at the beginning of last century, part of the Harlem Renaissance, I own Selected Poems.


I, Too, Sing America
I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.


And this is my favourite poem:

Theme for English B
The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

Comments

langston hughes is awesome

[chattycheese.livejournal.com]

my favorite is when the negro was in vogue

vv

[sennical.livejournal.com]

I <3 Langston Hughes. I did a project on him in the sixth grade.

Ever read "Let America be America Again"?

Re: langston hughes is awesome

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that one! Link?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

He's awesome!

Mm, once, a while ago... I should go look it up... *hunts*

[rysade.livejournal.com]

Uh oh. Poetry spam every month... Perhaps I should spam back?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Every day till the end of the month. :) I dunno who I'm going to do tomorrow...

Re: langston hughes is awesome

[chattycheese.livejournal.com]

it's a sortof autobiographical analysis-thingy that hughes wrote. there's an AWESOME AWESOME segment from it in out lit book this year, but i can't find that particular segment online. ::grumbles:: sorry.

vv

[dawnraided.livejournal.com]

I just noticed your 'post new comment'...What if someone really wanted to go? lol

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Um, well...


... NO-ONE DOES, OKAY? EVERYONE LOVES ME.

Also, everyone knows that it's the comment link anyway.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

PS: if you want to talk to me directly, you post a new comment and reply to the actual post, not to a comment I said to someone else, okay? The rule is, if you want to talk to someone who posted a comment somewhere, uyou hit the reply button to that comment; if you want to talk to the person who wrote the original post, use the "post a new comment" button, okay?

[dawnraided.livejournal.com]

Not if they are new...like me... well they wouldn't if they hadn't seen if before...? I dunno.

[dawnraided.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm getting that too... *brain overload* so much to LJ...