National Poetry Day! - A Meme?
Today is National Poetry Day and according to a BBC poll, Britain has voted TS Elliot as the nations favourite. This made me wonder, what poetry do people on my f-list like? Consider this a meme and let me know! Send me recommendations!
For me, I remember quite clearly the first poet I was ever really aware of was Spike Milligan and I still to this day have my copy of Silly Verse For Kids. I also like his serious stuff which doesn't get nearly as much attention as it probably should.
But the poet I am to share here is the poetry of Langston Hughes. I discovered his work at uni and I love it for his accessibility and simplicity. I think he was a great voice for people of his generation and the themes of America, African American culture and race relations/politics are what his most famous poems are about. But instead I am sharing some that he wrote on the human condition. Hope some of you enjoy it!
Hope
Sometimes when I'm lonely,
Don't know why.
Keep thinkin' I won't be lonely
By and by.
Late Last Night
Late Last Night I
Set on my steps and cried.
Wasn't nobody gone,
Neither had nobody died.
I was cryin'
Cause you broke my heart in two.
You looked at me cross-eyed
And broke my heart in two -
So I was cryin'
On account of
You!
Wake
Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red -
Cause there ain't no sense
In my bein' dead.
Could Be
Could Be Hastings Street,
Or Lenox Avenue
Could be 18th & Vine
And still be true.
Could be 5th & Mound,
Could be Rampart:
When you pawned my watch
You pawned my heart.
Could be you love me,
Could be that you don't
Might be that you'll come back,
Like as not you won't.
Hastings Street is weary,
Also Lenox Avenue.
Any place is dreary
Without my watch and you.
Evil
Looks like what drives me crazy
Don't have no effect on you -
But I'm gonna keep on at it
Till it drives you crazy, too.
Border Line
I used to wonder
About living and dying -
I think the difference lies
Between tears and crying.
I used to wonder
About here and there -
I think the distance
Is nowhere.
Desert
Anybody
Better than
Nobody.
In the barren dusk
Even the snake
That spirals
Terror on the sand -
Better than nobody
In this lonely
Land.
Maybe
I asked you, baby,
If you understood -
You told me that you didn't,
But you thought you would.
Motto
I play it cool
And dig all jive.
That's the reason
I stay alive.
My motto,
As I live and learn.
is:
Dig And Be Dug
In Return.
Advice
Folks, I'm telling you,
birthing is hard
and dying is mean -
so get yourself
a little loving
in between.
For me, I remember quite clearly the first poet I was ever really aware of was Spike Milligan and I still to this day have my copy of Silly Verse For Kids. I also like his serious stuff which doesn't get nearly as much attention as it probably should.
But the poet I am to share here is the poetry of Langston Hughes. I discovered his work at uni and I love it for his accessibility and simplicity. I think he was a great voice for people of his generation and the themes of America, African American culture and race relations/politics are what his most famous poems are about. But instead I am sharing some that he wrote on the human condition. Hope some of you enjoy it!
Hope
Sometimes when I'm lonely,
Don't know why.
Keep thinkin' I won't be lonely
By and by.
Late Last Night
Late Last Night I
Set on my steps and cried.
Wasn't nobody gone,
Neither had nobody died.
I was cryin'
Cause you broke my heart in two.
You looked at me cross-eyed
And broke my heart in two -
So I was cryin'
On account of
You!
Wake
Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red -
Cause there ain't no sense
In my bein' dead.
Could Be
Could Be Hastings Street,
Or Lenox Avenue
Could be 18th & Vine
And still be true.
Could be 5th & Mound,
Could be Rampart:
When you pawned my watch
You pawned my heart.
Could be you love me,
Could be that you don't
Might be that you'll come back,
Like as not you won't.
Hastings Street is weary,
Also Lenox Avenue.
Any place is dreary
Without my watch and you.
Evil
Looks like what drives me crazy
Don't have no effect on you -
But I'm gonna keep on at it
Till it drives you crazy, too.
Border Line
I used to wonder
About living and dying -
I think the difference lies
Between tears and crying.
I used to wonder
About here and there -
I think the distance
Is nowhere.
Desert
Anybody
Better than
Nobody.
In the barren dusk
Even the snake
That spirals
Terror on the sand -
Better than nobody
In this lonely
Land.
Maybe
I asked you, baby,
If you understood -
You told me that you didn't,
But you thought you would.
Motto
I play it cool
And dig all jive.
That's the reason
I stay alive.
My motto,
As I live and learn.
is:
Dig And Be Dug
In Return.
Advice
Folks, I'm telling you,
birthing is hard
and dying is mean -
so get yourself
a little loving
in between.