SUB I-iarrmurg A/616025 THE BLACK POETS Dudley Randall, Editor ' . -BANTAM BOOKS NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND 'Contents" Introduction xxiii FOLK POETRY 1 w Walk together Children 1 Folk Seculars 3 - Song; We Raise de Wheat - .. 3 He Paid Me Seven (Parody) •5. Run, Nigger, Runt 5. Promises of Freedom -.. .... ; , - 5. Jack and Dinah Want Freedom - 5 Wild Negro Bill 7- Negro Soldiers GiM: War .Chant. - 7 Song to the Runaway' Slave. * • "• . - 8 Down in-the Lonesome Garden. ^ ; 8 This Sun is Hot - - 9 That Hypocrite _ ° "; 9 Old Man'Know-All.-' • '. : 9 Raise a "Rucus" TprNight • 10 111 Wear Me. a Cotton Dress . .. 11. John Henry . - . 12 She Hugged Me and Kissed Me' «** 16 Slave Marriage Ceremony Supplement 16 Blessing Without Company- . " - '-17 The Old Section Boss ' 17 The Turtle's Song " . '- . • '• 18 Chuck Will's Widow Song 19 CONTENTS Spirituals 21 No More Auction Block 21 I Know de Moonlight 23 Go Down, Moses 23 Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho . 24 Dere s No Hidin Place DownDere 25 I Got a Home in.Dat Rock . • 25 Deep River "7-26 Steal Away to Jesus .27 Git on Board, Little Chillen 27 Give Me Jesus ... 28 What Yo' Gwine to do when Yo' Lamp Bum Down? . - - •/. - 29 Crucifixion ' - . 29 Were You There when They Crucified My Lord? - ' . 30 I Thank God I'm Free at Las' , 31' De Ole Sheep Dey Know De Road ' , v 32 LITERARY POETRY 33 Black Poet, White Critic,- by Dudley Randall 33 The' Forerunners 35 from America, by James M. Whitfield 35 LUCY TERRY 37 Bar's Fight, August 28, 1746 . 37 / PHILLIS WHEATLEY 38 from To the Right Honorable William, Earl of. Dartmouth . ' 38. FRANCES E. W. HARPER . 39 The Slave Auction / . 39 Bury Me In a Free Land 40 CONTENTS JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ; 41 Listen, Lord—A Prayer . 41 O Black and Unknown Bards . _ 42 V . PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 44 An Ante-BeUuni Sermon 44 Misapprehension . " . 7 . , 46 Harriet Beecher Stowe " 47 Soliloquy of a Turkey 47 When Dey"Listed Colored Soldiers " . 48 To a Captious Critic 50" In the Morning 51 The Poet . 52 A Spiritual 53 The Unsung Heroes • . 54 Philosophy ' > - 55 Compensation ; - - 56 Harlem. Renaissance. - . 57 ..." .Esthete In Harlem, by Langston Hughes 57 ' CLAUDE McKAY 59 The Harlem Dancer 59 Spring in New Hampshire - 59 The Tired Worker. • 60 To O.E.A. 1 60 The White. City % •. - * 61 Enslaved " '62 Tiger 7 62 If We Must Die *'• u -63 - The-Negro's Tragedy ^ 63 Truth • " " . 64 The Pagan Isms . ' v . 64 I Know My Soul * - 65 . JEAN TOOMER • - -. 66 Karintha 66 CONTENTS Reapers Cotton Song ' Georgia Dusk Evening Song FRANK HORNE Letters Found Near a Suicide: - To Mother To 'Chick' To You _ To James '• Walk . 4 'Mammal' Patience - LANGSTON HUGHES The Negro Speaks of Rivers Dinner Guest: Me - Un-American Investigators - Third Degree ! Who But the Lord? Ku Klux Peace. Still Here Cultural Exchange Junior Addict Children's Rhymes • Words Like Freedom Justice American Heartbreak Frederick Douglass: 1817-1895 Where? When? Which? , Angola Question Mark . Question and Answer The Backlash Blues Warning CONTENTS Xiii ARNA BONTEMPS . 92 God Give to Men \% • ,92, Reconnaissance ' ' • - 92 - Nocturne of the Wharves - - 93 A Black Man Talks of Reaping ' 94 ^ COUNTEE CULLEN " 95 Heritage . .. 1' 95 Incident _ .98 Simon the Cyrenian Speaks 99 From the Dark Tower . ^ . 100 Yet Do I Marvel 100 To Certain Critics -101 Post-Renaissance 1.03 - ' "Summertime and the Living. by Robert Hayden - 103 . STERLING A. BROWN -105 Slim In Hell ~ . 105 Old Lem ~ ' 109 Southern Road ; .111 Long Gone" 112 Strong Men - - 113 Crispus Attucks McCoy - ' . '115 MELVIN B. TOLSON 118 A Legend of Versailles . 118 The Birth of John Henry;- ' . *; 118 Satchmo *• •. * ; \ .119 ' FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS 121 Robert Whitmore . 121 Arthur Ridgewood,' M.D. ' 121 Giles Johnson, Ph.D. i ' 122 ROBERT HAYDEN 123 Middle Passage •... .. .123 Runagate Runagate . ' 128 CONTENTS A Ballad of Remembrance 131 The Ballad of Nat Turner - . : 133" Full Moon ... -135 The Diver ' , ••-.130 The Wheel V :' -137 In the Mourning Time - . 138 DUDLEY RANDALL -139 Analysands • 139 Primitives '• * 139 Hail; Dionysos i 140 The Melting Pot - • v 141 A DifiFerent Image ' - : • 142 Roses and Revolutions /, , 142 Ballad of Birmingham - . „ 143 The Idiot ... .144 George . ' 145 Souvenirs 140 The Profile on the Pillow ~ 147 Abu" < 147 Ancestors ' 148 MARGARET DANNER . 149 Garnishing the Aviary •' ; r": 149 The Convert . .. , - " : 149 This Is an African Worm . 151 The Painted Lady ' " 152 And through the Caribbean Sea 152 Goodbye David Tamunoemi West 153 The Slave and the Iron Lace • " 154 MARGARET WALKER 156 Street Demonstration . ' 150 Girl Held Without Bail 150 For Malcolm X * 157 For Andy Goodman—Michael Schwerner and James Chaney. V 158 Prophets for a New Day 160 CONTENTS XV RAY DUREM 163 I Know I'm Not Sufficiently Obscure 163 Award - - 164 T GWENDOLYN BROOKS 165 The Mother . 165 Kitchenette Buildings 166 What Shall I Give My Children? . 166 The Rites for Cousin Vit : . 167 A Lovely Love - • ' 167 When You Have Forgotten Sunday: The Love. Story 168 The Chicago Picasso .169 The Sermon on the Warpland 170 The Second'Sermon on the Warpland . 171 Young Heroes 172 I Kedrapetse Kgositsile (Willie) 172 .11 To Don at Salaam ; 173 III Walter Bradford ' .174 Riot • • 175 Riot 175 The Third Sermon on the Warpland 176 An Aspect of Love, Alive.in the Ice and Fire - 179 The Nineteen Sixties > . 181 - SOS by Imamu Amiri Baraka • . 181 < MARI-EVANS . 183 Black jam for dr negro r 183 To, Mother and Steve • 184 Spectrum; - " "186 Where.Have You'Gone ' < 186 Marrow of My Bone "i 187 JAMES EMANUEL ; 188 Nightmare ; . J '. 188 The Negro 188 XVi CONTENTS Negritude 189 The Treehouse . 190 For "Mr. Dudley," a Black Spy 191 Panther Man - . 192 NAOMI MADGETT 194 Quest 194 Star Journey - v .7 • 195! Dream Sequence, Part. 9 • 195 ' The Race .Question 196 Pavlov ' - 196 Midway 197. Alabama Centennial • 197 , CONRAD KENT RIVERS 190 A Mourning Letter from Paris , 199 Four Sheets to the Wind and a One-Way - Ticket to France 199 In Defense of Black Poets. : 200 The Death of a Negro Poet 201 ETHERIDGE KNIGHT 203 The Idea of Ancestry • - - 203 For Freckle-Faced Gerald. • x - : 205 Haiku . 206 It Was a Funky Deal 207 The Violent Space '208 I Sing of Shine " 209 IMAMU AMIRI BARAKA 211 An Agony. As now. 1 *- - - 211 The Pressures. " ' 212 Ka 'Ba . -213 Beautiful Black Women ... - ' - ' v . -213 Babylon Revisited - - 214 leroy , 215 A Poem Some People Will Have to Understand 216 CONTENTS XVli Letter To E. Franklin Frazier 217 Numbers, Letters 218 Young Soul • ; . 220 Cold Term 220 In one battle .221 Return of the Native • 222 Black Bourgeoisie, . -223 Black Art ' ' 223 Poem for Half White College Students 225 ; Bliack People! • - 226 A.. B. SPELLMAN . 228 When Black People Are 228 In Orangeburg My Brothers Did . 229 JOHARI AMINI . 230 . Saint Malcolm 230 Utopia • - . 230 SONIA SANCHEZ 231 to all brothers - < 231 poem at thirty i 231* nigger 232 black magic • 233 summary . 233 LISTENEN TO BIG BLACK AT S.F. STATE . 235 a poem for my father ' 1 ' 236 hospital/poem r 236 simimer words of a sistuh addict * 237 —answer to yo/question of am i not yo/ woman even if u went on shit again-— '238 poem for etheridge ... 239 a chant for young/brothas & sistuhs 240 • ' JUNE.JORDAN. ,243 Okajr "Negroes7 - ; ; • ' . 243. Cameo No. H • . : 243 xviii CONTENTS Poem for my family:,Hazel Griffin and Victor Hernandez Cruz 245 Poem from the Empire State 247 My Sadness Sits Around Me ; 248 Nobody Riding the Roads Today 248 What Happens - 249 LUCILLE CLIFTON J : 250 Good times •. * 250 Love Rejected - ..•••' i- 250 Admonitions . - 251 If I Stand in My Window ' 252 JAMES W. THOMPSON 253 . A Constant Labor _ 253 The Greek Room .' 254 The spawn of slums * 254 The Plight. ' 256 JOHN RAVEN , .258 An Inconvenience 258 Assailant .. 258. The Roach - 259 CAROLYN M. RODGERS . 260 Now Ain't That Love? * . 260 Testimony-. _ ." 261 ' One :' _ „ - 261 for h. w. fuller . _ • " '262 Breakthrough . * ; . J 263 What Color is Lonely 265 Yuh Lookin GOOD ' / . 266 LARRY NEAL 268 Harlem Gallery: From the Inside 268 James Powell on Imagination 269 Malcolm X—An Autobiography _ 269 CONTENTS xix JAMES A; RANDALL, JR. .' . 272 Who Shall Die? i. ,272 Untitled .• . '273 Don't Ask Me Who I Am , 274 When Something Happens ; * 275 Execution v. •> - 277 Jew ; X 278 " WELTON SMITH , - 280 malcolm - -280 . The Nigga Section ' ... 282 ISHMAEL REED "\ 284 badman of the guest professor : 284 black piower poem .' 288 Beware : Do Not Read This. Poem 288 MICHAEL HARPER - 290 Elvin's Blues 290 American History • 291 A; Mother Speaks : The Algiers . Motel Incident, Detroit ' - 291 YUSEF I^AN 293 , Love Your Enemy ' 293 . DON L. LEE . 295 . BACK AGAIN, HOME (confessions of an " ex-executive) ' ' " '295 RE-ACT FOR ACTION 296 THE PRIMITIVE : ' .297 The Self-Hatred of Don L. Lee - 297 communication in whi-te .••••' 299 But He Has Cool or : he even stopped for green lights ; 299 a poem to complement, other poems _ 300 Orie Sided Shoot-out v • 301 CONTENTS Big Momma i 304 Mixed Sketches ' V 306 We Walk the .Way of the New World 307 DOUGIITRY-LONG . 310 Ginger Bread Mama 310 One' Time Henry Dreamed, the Number 310 EVERETT HOAGLAND 312 love Child—a black aesthetic 312 My Spring Thing '313 The Anti-Semanticist f ' 314 It s a Terrible, Thing! - 315. NIKKI GIOVANNI 318 The True Import of Present Dialogue: Black vs. Negro " ' . 318 My Poem .