The Negro Sits in the Back of the Bus

I first came to know about Langston Hughes through the Life magazine in 1997, when they carried out a long article on the Favorite Poem Project spearheaded by Robert Pinsky. Hughes' "Merry-Go-Round" and "Dreams" were two of the poems quoted by Life. I loved both of them, and so I searched for his other poems in the internet. As a result, I learned about the Harlem Rennassance and Hughes' poetry in much better detail. Excited, I emailed a poem to the Favorite Poem Project. However, within a few days, I received a mail from Pinksy's secretary telling me in polite words that they did not accept overseas submissions yet.

In 1999, BK, my senior was returning from US and offered to buy for me any book I wanted. The first book that came to my mind was The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes.

I have been ever since fascinated with the Harlem Renaissance.

When I visited New York in 2005, the last day before our return, I borrowed the digital camera from HKN and went on my own in search of Harlem. I got down in 103th Street and then started walking. The area looked to me to be of mixed population: Hispanics and Blacks; many of the sign-boards were in Spanish.

A few months ago, an ex-LAPD officer gave me a guided tour of the South Central LA, the toughest neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Harlem did not look to be to be very much different in appearnace. After walking about 10 blocks I walked into a shop and inquired about the Harlem Renaissance Museum. The guy at the shop confirmed that the are was Spanish Harlem and I would need to walk another 5 blocks or so to be in the real Harlem. He was not sure if the knew the Museum I was asking about; neverthelss he told me about a Museum that was there in Harlem, which he claimed is visited by some prominent people once a year.

Now I must confess that I am not a courageous man, and so I decided to stop my adventure there. I caught a metro going in the opposite direction and went to take a few pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge instead.

Below I quote a few poems by Hughes that are my favorites.
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Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

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.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went
down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn
all golden in the sunset.

Madam and Her Madam

I worked for a woman,
She wasn't mean--
But she had a twelve-room
House to clean.

Had to get breakfast,
Dinner, and supper, too--
Then take care of her children
When I got through.

Wash, iron, and scrub,
Walk the dog around--
It was too much,
Nearly broke me down.

I said, Madam,
Can it be
You trying to make a
Pack-horse out of me?

She opened her mouth.
She cried, Oh, no!
You know, Alberta,
I love you so!

I said, Madam,
That may be true--
But I'll be dogged
If I love you!

Suicide's Note

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.

The Dream Keeper

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

Merry-Go-Round

COLORED CHILD AT CARNIVAL

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
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back—
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?

PERSONAL

In an envelope marked:
PERSONAL
God addressed me a letter.
In an envelope marked:
PERSONAL
I have given my answer
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Sources:
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/poetry/hughes_langston.html
http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/poet-6691/
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/MAPS/poets/g_l/hughes/hughes.htm
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/hughes.htm
http://www.bu.edu/favoritepoem/poems/hughes/merry.html
http://members.fortunecity.com/ltpoetry/hughes.htm
http://www.bu.edu/favoritepoem/