Some Words

Recently, I have found myself unable to put pen to paper, or, fingers to buttons so I dug up some poetry that my dearest friend Jesse a.k.a Koko Bonaparte gave to me about 6 years ago and Im really glad that I found it because I understand and appreciate this gift on a whole other level.  Trying to find a way to write transformative moments in my life is not as easy as I thought it would be, I want the words that are written to mean something, not just to write for the sake of it.  So I think this poem by Langston Hughes is rightly so.  Jesse also put down some of her own words that guided me through some of her favourite poets, she is one of mine.  So, Jesse this one is for you.

His name is Langston Hughes
He was an American poet, born in Missouri in 1902.
He wrote these before the civil rights movement.
And he wrote a lot of blues.

Langston Huges
Theme for English B

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you -- 
Then, it will be true.

 
I wonder if it's that simple?
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.