#AmericanWriters 1931 October Originally Poetry appeared in issue magazine of the
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
Love Is a ripe plum Growing on a purple tree. Taste it once And the spell of its enchantment
When the shoe strings break On both your shoes And you’re in a hurry— That’s the blues. When you go to buy a candy bar
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams
I catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.
I was so sick last night I Didn’t hardly know my mind. So sick last night I Didn’t know my mind. I drunk some bad licker that
It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun—
Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.
She, In the dark, Found light Brighter than many ever see. She,
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
Only dumb guys fight. If I wasn’t dumb I wouldn’t be fightin’. I could make six dollars a day On the docks
Let’s go see Old Abe Sitting in the marble and the moon… Sitting lonely in the marble and t… Quiet for ten thousand centuries,… Quiet for a million, million years…
Goin’ down the road, Lawd, Goin’ down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody
Fine living . . . a la carte? Come to the Waldorf—Astoria! LISTEN HUNGRY ONES! Look! See what Vanity Fair says… new Waldorf—Astoria:
When Susanna Jones wears red her face is like an ancient cameo Turned brown by the ages. Come with a blast of trumphets, J… When Susanna Jones wears red