It has been roughly two and a half years since I was first introduced to Langston Hughes by a friend of mine, Najin Aryan. He’s a very talented poet who I came to adore almost immediately.
It just happened to be that at the time I was introduced to Hughes I was reading Derek Alton Walcott's, A Far Cry from Africa … which is a very, very intense poem about ethnic loyalties from the perspective of a person mixed between black and white. Then, happenstancedly, I read Hughes’ poem ‘Cross’ which has similar racial overtones and concerns.
Yep, Hughes as a poet had immediate hold on me. That poem ‘Cross’ is below- let me know what you think.
Happy birthday, Mr. James Mercer Langston Hughes …
*****
Cross
My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder were I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?
It just happened to be that at the time I was introduced to Hughes I was reading Derek Alton Walcott's, A Far Cry from Africa … which is a very, very intense poem about ethnic loyalties from the perspective of a person mixed between black and white. Then, happenstancedly, I read Hughes’ poem ‘Cross’ which has similar racial overtones and concerns.
Yep, Hughes as a poet had immediate hold on me. That poem ‘Cross’ is below- let me know what you think.
Happy birthday, Mr. James Mercer Langston Hughes …
*****
Cross
My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder were I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?
I really like that poem and I have liked everything I have read by Hughes.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it matters much where you die, but where you go thereafter. And I know with certainty where you, John May, will end your journey.
ReplyDeleteI love Langston Hughes, and this one is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for not having noted Langston Hughes' birthday. He was the reason I fell in love with poetry when I was 7, and I have every book and poem he's published. Thank you for commemorating his birthday!
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