#AmericanWriters
Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal… It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,
I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening
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…
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
I look at the world From awakening eyes in a black fac… And this is what I see: This fenced—off narrow space Assigned to me.
Here I sit With my shoes mismated. Lawdy—mercy! I’s frustrated!
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
Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear. I have as much right
You say I O.K.ed LONG DISTANCE? O.K.ed it when? My goodness, Central That was then!
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…
I sat there singing her Songs in the dark. She said; 'I do not understand The words’.
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
My name is Johnson— Madam Alberta K. The Madam stands for business. I’m smart that way. I had a
We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark