April 2010
57 posts
Before the big bang,Before time itself,Before matter, energy, velocity,There existed a single and measurable state called yearning. This is the special force that on a day before there were days,Obliterated nothing into everything. It is the unseen strings tying planets to stars,It is the maddening want we feel,From first breath,To last light.”
from In Plain Sight
we are all sufferers of love: Where The Sidewalk Ends →
wesailedaway.tumblr.com
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark…
“Ignorance to cope, man, ignorance is bliss,
ignorance is love and I need that sh-t,” —Kid Cudi (Soundtrack 2 my life)
ignorance is love and I need that sh-t,” —Kid Cudi (Soundtrack 2 my life)
“Iv’e got some issues that nobody can see
and all of these emotions are pourin outta me
I bring them to the light for you
its only right
this is the soundtrack to my life
the soundtrack to my life ohhhh” —Kid Cudi (Soundtrack 2 my Life)
and all of these emotions are pourin outta me
I bring them to the light for you
its only right
this is the soundtrack to my life
the soundtrack to my life ohhhh” —Kid Cudi (Soundtrack 2 my Life)
A Dream Deferred
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?
Juke Box Love Song
I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem’s heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day—
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.
The Negro Speaks 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.
THEME FOR ENGLISH B
By Langston Hughes
The instructor said,
I wonder if it’s that simple?Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—-
Then, it will be true.
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me—-we two—-you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me—-who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—-Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—-
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—-
although you’re older—-and white—-
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
1951
