The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes | 
so-soProbably best to take this as personal opinion rather
than objective qualitative review. Mostly because
me and poetry are frequently at odds! There were a
double-fistful of poems I enjoyed, there were many
more that spoke to important issues. There were a
quite a number that discussed blues and jazz and a
couple sections that were written to evoke music or
actual song lyrics! 1/?
Here's hoping Monday was good to you. 💙
Suddenly yearning for a dictionary that illustrates the meaning of words through poetry.
Love those poems that are just a single moment spoken. 🥀
pickI‘ve been reading this in the mornings on and off for a few months now, and Cedric decided to keep me company today as I finished it up. He‘s not usually a fan of my morning poetry time since it doesn‘t involve playing with him, so it‘s always a treat when he shows up. It was very cool to see how Hughes both had a clear signature style, but also felt free to stray incredibly far from that style and try all sorts of experimental techniques.
“We want to know what in the hell you'd say?“
Classic with a twist. 🧜🏻♀️⚓🐦🪺☺️
#weirdwords #weirdwordwednesday @CBee
I frequently learn musical terms from the poetry I‘m reading, but less frequently am forced to learn a musical term to fully understand the poem I‘m reading. This one especially tripped me up because L.H. frequently uses what we‘d generally consider nonstandard spellings for words these days, and tacet is always written as tacit in my book (a much more common word meaning “implied without being spoken”)
I haven‘t written poetry in what feels like forever, but these verses are unlocking something in me and I‘m finally scratching down a few lines and ideas! It‘s such a relief! ✍🏼🗒️🤍
#PoetryMatters - World: What is there to say when the words of a poem written one hundred years ago still ring true? The loveliness of this place escapes us. We continue to only DREAM of a world like this...each person hoping and wondering when. When indeed?
Photo Credit: OC Human Relations
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A less famous #dream poem of Hughes. He used the word a lot. #poetrymatters @TheSpineView
#poetrymatters @TheSpineView
#Tune
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes found in the tagged book.
Read the full poem here: https://poets.org/poem/weary-blues
Book mail! Now I just have to find a spot for it on my poetry shelf.
“Dreams”
“Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.”
#QuotsyDec19 | 1: #Without
📷: Made with Typorama
pickThis is the best poet I‘ve read. Coolest poet I‘ve read. My favorite poet I‘ve read.
Hughes is risky, exploratory (constantly trying new things), and his work is filled with a vibrant hum.
It's not National Poetry Month any longer, but I still have a couple of poetry books I'm working my way through. Here's one of my favorites, Langston Hughes' "Dreams"
Tell me, tell me,
What makes love such an ache and pain?
Tell me what makes
Love such an ache and pain?
It takes you and it breaks you—
But you got to love again.
“Let us become instead, you and I,
One single hand
That can united rise
To smash the old dead dogmas of the past—“
He was writing this nearly eighty years ago, saying some of the same basic stuff people talk about to this day.
(Also, Langston Hughes was radical—way more than I expected!)
Surely we know what you do not know;
Joy of living,
Uselessness of things.
You are too young to understand yet.
Build another skyscraper
Touching the stars.
We sit with our backs against a tree
And watch skyscrapers tumble
And stars forget.
“To respect Hughes‘s work, above all one must respect the African American people and their culture, as well as the American people in general and their national culture.”
Happy Birthday to Langston Hughes born on this day in 1902.
I read this sweet poem the other day and it aptly describes our house now, but with two little maple-sugars peeping out. 👀👀
God to a Hungry Child
