#AmericanWriters
Here I sit With my shoes mismated. Lawdy—mercy! I’s frustrated!
Clean the spittoons, boy. Detroit, Chicago, Atlantic City, Palm Beach.
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…
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,
You say I O.K.ed LONG DISTANCE? O.K.ed it when? My goodness, Central That was then!
The rent man knocked. He said, Howdy—do? I said, What Can I do for you? He said, You know
Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams
Harlem Sent him home in a long box— Too dead To know why:
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
Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think
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
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
How quiet It is in this sick room Where on the bed A silent woman lies between two lo… Life and Death,
Goin’ down the road, Lawd, Goin’ down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody
Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry—go—round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored