#AmericanWriters
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da… I built my hut near the Congo and…
My name is Johnson— Madam Alberta K. The Madam stands for business. I’m smart that way. I had a
I play it cool I dig all jive. That's the reason I stay alive. My motto
I catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.
My old mule, He’s gota grin on his face. He’s been a mule so long He’s forgotten about his race. I’m like that old mule —
Gather quickly Out of darkness All the songs you know And throw them at the sun Before they melt
I got to leave this town. It’s a lonesome place. Got to leave this town cause It’s a lonesome place. A po’, po’ boy can’t
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark
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.
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,
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…
Goin’ down the road, Lawd, Goin’ down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody
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
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?