Self-Portrait, poem by Afaa Michael Weaver

SELF-PORTRAIT
by Afaa Michael Weaver

I see myself in the shadows of a leaf
compressed to the green blades growing
to a point like the shards of miles of mirrors
falling and cracking to perfect gardens.

I never inspect the withered assumption
of my face’s petty dialogue in raindrops,
the deceptive spreading of the words
oozing from the skin to the edges of water
etched on the ground by gravity and wishing.

Passing for the seriousness of my eye,
platitudes of my white collar or
the perfect posture of my lips, it skirts
from the leaves of the plant hiding me
and sits stoic like stone in my pupil,
mute and unassuming, like Rashi.

To gather myself I will swim naked
in the wind, bending my blind elbows
in circles, stopping now to dance
like the cherubic gold on the ark,
and gather myself from the particles
of this excitement another structure,
one closely resembling the beginning.

SOURCE: “Self Portrait” appears in Afaa Michael Weaver’s collection Multitudes: Poems Selected & New (Sarabande Books, 2000), available at Amazon.com.

IMAGE: “Self-Portrait by Sun and Grass” by Chuck Taylor. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Afaa Michael Weaver was born Michael S. Weaver to working class parents in 1951. Weaver entered the University of Maryland at age 16, studying for two years before leaving to marry and take a job in a Baltimore factory owned by Bethlehem Steel. After military service, in 1971, Weaver was hired as a semi-skilled worker at Procter & Gamble in Baltimore. In 1985, and still a factory worker, he received a fellowship from the NEA — and his first book of poetry, Water Song, was published that year. That falll, Weaver entered the Brown University graduate writing program and finished his BA at the University of the State of New York. After graduation, he taught at several colleges before landing an appointment at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey, where he received tenure with distinction as an early candidate. Weaver is the author of over a dozen poetry collections and has  had two plays produced professionally. His awards include a Pew Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, a May Sarton Award, and the PDI Award in playwriting from the eta Creative Arts Theatre in Chicago. Visit him at afaaweaver.net.

…Of Rivers, poem by Langston Hughes

…OF RIVERS
by Langston Hughes

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.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. (Read more at Wikipedia.org.)

PHOTO: Langston Hughes by Gordon Parks, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Your World, poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson

YOUR WORLD
by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Your world is as big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
 
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the skyline encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
 
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze,
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) wrote plays, a syndicated newspaper column, and four collections of poetry: The Heart of a Woman (1918), Bronze (1922),An Autumn Love Cycle (1928), and Share My World (1962). Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents of African American, Native American, and English descent, she graduated from Atlanta University Normal College and studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland College of Music. Johnson published her first poems in 1916 in the NAACP’s magazineCrisis. Her weekly column, “Homely Philosophy,” was published from 1926 to 1932. She wrote numerous plays, including Blue Blood(performed 1926) and Plumes (performed 1927). (Read more atpoetryfoundation.org.)

PAINTING: “The Promise” by Rene Magritte, 1966.

Your World, poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson

YOUR WORLD
by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Your world is as big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner,
My wings pressing close to my side.
 
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the skyline encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
 
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze,
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) wrote plays, a syndicated newspaper column, and four collections of poetry: The Heart of a Woman (1918), Bronze (1922), An Autumn Love Cycle (1928), and Share My World (1962). Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents of African American, Native American, and English descent, she graduated from Atlanta University Normal College and studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland College of Music. Johnson published her first poems in 1916 in the NAACP’s magazine Crisis. Her weekly column, “Homely Philosophy,” was published from 1926 to 1932. She wrote numerous plays, including Blue Blood (performed 1926) and Plumes (performed 1927). (Read more at poetryfoundation.org.)

PAINTING: “The Promise” by Rene Magritte, 1966.

Subway Rush Hour, poem by Langston Hughes

A while back, I said, “I’m gonna pop some tags” (to quote “Thrift Shop,” a humorous/profane song by blond rapper Macklemore — a tune with over 400 million views on youtube), so I went to my local Goodwill store and for $2.99 snagged a pristine copy of POEMS OF NEW YORK (Everyman’s Library, 2002), a collection of 125 poems about Gotham’s many facets. 

Here’s a poem from the anthology — part of the Everyman Library’s Pocket Poet Series — a beautiful hardcover book, with gorgeous photos on the dust jacket, and a threaded gold bookmark.

SUBWAY RUSH HOUR
by Langston Hughes

Mingled
breath and smell
so close
mingled
black and white
so near
no room for fear. 

###

So pay a visit to your local thrift shop this week — most of these operations benefit worthy causes — and pop some tags. You never know what you’ll find.

Jazz Haiku by Etheridge Knight

 

JAZZ HAIKU
by Etheridge Knight

Making jazz swing in
Seventeen syllables AIN’T
No square poet’s job.

…From The Essential Etheridge Knight (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986). Copies available at Amazon.com.

Illustration: “Colorful Music Notes” by FunnyMusic. Postcards available at zazzle.com.

…Of Rivers, poem by Langston Hughes

…OF RIVERS
by Langston Hughes

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.
 
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
 
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. (Read more at Wikipedia.org.)

PHOTO: Langston Hughes by Gordon Parks, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Subway Rush Hour, Poem by Langston Hughes

A few days ago, I said, “I’m gonna pop some tags” (to quote “Thrift Shop,” a humorous/profane song by blond rapper Macklemore — a tune with over 250 million views on youtube), so I went to my local Goodwill store and for $2.99 snagged a pristine copy of POEMS OF NEW YORK (Everyman’s Library, 2002), a collection of 125 poems about Gotham’s many facets. 

Here’s a poem from the anthology — part of the Everyman Library’s Pocket Poet Series — a beautiful hardcover book, with gorgeous photos on the dust jacket, and a threaded gold bookmark.

SUBWAY RUSH HOUR
by Langston Hughes

Mingled
breath and smell
so close
mingled
black and white
so near
no room for fear. 

###

So pay a visit to your local thrift shop this week — most of these operations benefit worthy causes — and pop some tags. You never know what you’ll find.