HARLEM By Langston Hughes 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?
Category Archives: poetry reading
Poem of the day: William street
WILLIAM STREET BY KENNETH SLESSOR The red globe of light, the liquor green,the pulsing arrows and the running firespilt on the stones, go deeper than a stream;You find this ugly, I find it lovelyGhosts’ trousers, like the dangle of hung men,in pawn-shop windows, bumping knee by knee,but none inside to suffer or condemn;You find thisContinue reading “Poem of the day: William street”
All I loved, I loved alone
Alone”BY EDGAR ALLAN POE From childhood’s hour I have not beenAs others were—I have not seenAs others saw—I could not bringMy passions from a common spring—From the same source I have not takenMy sorrow—I could not awakenMy heart to joy at the same tone—And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—Then—in my childhood—in the dawnOf a mostContinue reading “All I loved, I loved alone”
Forty years
Forty years by Mary Oliver for forty yearsthe sheets of white paper havepassed under my hands and I have tried to improve their peacefulemptiness putting downlittle curls little shaftsof letters words little flames leapingnot one pagewas less to me than fascinatingdiscursive full of cadence its pale nerves hidingin the curves of the Qsbehind the soldierly Hsin the webbedContinue reading “Forty years”
Solitude
Solitide By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone;For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own.Sing, and the hills will answer; Sigh, it is lost on the air;The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care.Rejoice,Continue reading “Solitude”
I remember
I REMEMBER By Anne Sexton By the first of Augustthe invisible beetles beganto snore and the grass wasas tough as hemp and wasno color—no more thanthe sand was a color andwe had worn our bare feetbare since the twentiethof June and there were timeswe forgot to wind up youralarm clock and some nightswe took ourContinue reading “I remember”
The true meaning of life
THE TRUE MEANING OF LIFE By Patricia A. Fleming The Years have passed by,In the blink of an eye,Moments of sadness,And joy have flown by. People I loved,Have come and have gone,But the world never stopped,And we all carried on. Life wasn’t easy,And the struggles were there,Filled with times that it mattered,Times I just didn’tContinue reading “The true meaning of life”
The arrow and the song
THE ARROW AND THE SONGBy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I shot an arrow into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strong,That itContinue reading “The arrow and the song”
Alone
ALONEBy Maya Angelou Lying, thinkingLast nightHow to find my soul a homeWhere water is not thirstyAnd bread loaf is not stoneI came up with one thingAnd I don’t believe I’m wrongThat nobody,But nobodyCan make it out here alone. Alone, all aloneNobody, but nobodyCan make it out here alone. There are some millionairesWith money they can’tContinue reading “Alone”
Still I rise
Still I riseBY MAYA ANGELOUYou may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wellsPumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty ofContinue reading “Still I rise”
