Langston Hughes (1932/1994)
Illustrated by Brian Pinkney
This was not the cover of the book that I read, but that image doesn't seem to be available anywhere online
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
This was a book that I borrowed from school last summer but didn't read until this one. I found it (and many, many others) shut up in a locker in the back of my classroom that I practically had to pry open.
The introduction and other material were copyright 1994. Also, this edition had "Additional Material", that is, extra poems from Hughes, included.
I can't say that I've ever read a collection of poems by Langston Hughes. I'm sure we covered one or two somewhere in college, and I've seen poems referenced in textbooks and newspaper columns. But actually read a collection? No.
This has been rectified.
Some of the shorter poems up front were surprising. They were some little ditties, light verse, out of context that may have meant more to me 100 years ago. I appreciated the longer poems, which had meter, rhyme, or some structure to them, unlike the modern free verse I encounter too often. I enjoyed the note of the differences between spirituals and blues.
The book was about 80 pages, divided into sections: The Dream Keeper, Sea Charm, Dressed Up, Feet O' Jesus, Walkers with the Dawn, and Additional Poems. I enjoyed the illustrations as well.
If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!
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