Poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and short story writer James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on this day in 1902.
"Lenox Avenue: Midnight" by Langston Hughes
The rhythm of life
Is a jazz rhythm,
Honey.
The gods are laughing at us.
Is a jazz rhythm,
Honey.
The gods are laughing at us.
The broken heart of love,
The weary, weary heart of pain,-
Overtones,
Undertones,
To the rumble of street cars,
To the swish of rain.
The weary, weary heart of pain,-
Overtones,
Undertones,
To the rumble of street cars,
To the swish of rain.
Lenox Avenue,
Honey.
Midnight,
And the gods are laughing at us.
Honey.
Midnight,
And the gods are laughing at us.
*
From the publication of his first book in 1926, Langston Hughes was hailed as the poet laureate of black America, the first to commemorate the experience of African Americans in a voice that no reader, black or white, could fail to hear. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, this volume is a treasure-an essential collection of the work of a poet whose words have entered our common language.
Yale University Library
“Hold fast to dreams; for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” Happy birthday to American poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967)! This photograph of Hughes can be found in the Langston Hughes Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library:http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/…/langston-hughes-papers-1…
