#AmericanWriters
Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie—woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely:
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams
In an envelope marked: PERSONAL God addressed me a letter. In an envelope marked: PERSONAL
And that is what poetry may do, wrap up your dreams, protect and preserve and hold them until maybe they come true. Columbus dreamed of finding a new world, he found it. Edison dreamed ...
By what sends the white kids I ain’t sent: I know I can’t be President.
'Me an’ ma baby’s Got two mo’ ways, Two mo’ ways to do de Charleston!… Da, da, Da, da, da!
Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.
When a man starts out with nothing… When a man starts out with his han… Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world… He starts first with himself
Down in the bass That steady beat Walking walking walking Like marching feet. Down in the bass
been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… flow of human blood in human veins My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da…
My name is Johnson— Madam Alberta K. The Madam stands for business. I’m smart that way. I had a
That Justice is a blind goddess Is a thing to which we black are w… Her bandage hides two festering so… That once perhaps were eyes.