#AmericanWriters
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
Big Boy came Carrying a mermaid On his shoulders And the mermaid Had her tail
I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
I live on a park bench. You, Park Avenue. Hell of a distance Between us two. I beg a dime for dinner—
Harlem Sent him home in a long box— Too dead To know why:
Clean the spittoons, boy. Detroit, Chicago, Atlantic City, Palm Beach.
In the Quarter of the Negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. Amorphous jack—o’—Lanterns caper
Oh, silver tree! Oh, shining rivers of the soul! In a Harlem cabaret Six long—headed jazzers play. A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams
How quiet It is in this sick room Where on the bed A silent woman lies between two lo… Life and Death,
We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark
Only dumb guys fight. If I wasn’t dumb I wouldn’t be fightin’. I could make six dollars a day On the docks
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow… I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni… By the pale dull pallor of an old…
God in His infinite wisdom Did not make me very wise— So when my actions are stupid They hardly take God by surprise