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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: DERRICOTTE, TOI Matches Found: 148 Derricotte, Toi Poet's Biography 148 poems available by this author 1:30 A.M. First Line: She can't sleep Last Line: You're milder now.' an old friend explains A MEMORY Poem Text First Line: I remember how I laid my head on your two flat breasts A NOTE ON MY SON'S FACE Poem Text First Line: Tonight, I look, thunderstruck / at the gold head of my grandchild Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving & Movers; Refugees; United States - Immigration & Emigtration; United States - Race Relations ABUSE First Line: Mama, the janitor is kissing me. Don't tell me that, you ADVICE TO SOMEBODY WAKING UP First Line: First you learn to turn your Last Line: First you learn to somebody waking up AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE THE ATOMIC BOMB Poem Text First Line: Why did such terrible events / catch my eye Last Line: Of contained passion? Variant Title(s): Fires In Childhood Subject(s): Nuclear War; Atomic Bomb; Hydrogen Bomb AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH BEFORE THE ATOMIC BOMB First Line: Why did such terrible events %catch my eye Variant Title(s): Fires In Childhoo Subject(s): Nuclear War AFRICAN/AMERICAN IN PARIS First Line: An african man tells me %he didn't know he was black Last Line: She never confused %the body %with the self, he said AFTER A READING AT A BLACK COLLEGE First Line: Maybe one day we will have Last Line: I am not what I think you think Variant Title(s): After A Reading At A Black Schoo ALLEN GINSBERG Poem Text First Line: Once allen ginsberg stopped to pee at a bookstore in new jersey Last Line: Unzipped his pants, and peed Subject(s): Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997) ALLEN GINSBERG First Line: Once allen ginsberg stopped to pee at a bookstore in new jersey Last Line: So proud she told this story %pointing to the spot outside, as if %still flowed that holy stream Subject(s): Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997) AT A COCKTAIL PARTY HONORING A NOTED OLD SOUTHERN WRITER (1) First Line: In the middle of the celebration Last Line: She is the actual word! AT A COCKTAIL PARTY HONORING A NOTED OLD SOUTHERN WRITER (2) First Line: Amazing how, in the middle Last Line: Into these places, the actual word AT WINTERGREEN: A RETREAT FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS First Line: One recovering, with the scars down her back where her spine was Last Line: Even more dangerous %than fear BEFORE MAKING LOVE Poem Text First Line: I move my hands over your face Last Line: That all the bloody kingdoms rest on Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks BEFORE MAKING LOVE First Line: I move my hands over your face Subject(s): African Americans BLACK BOYS PLAY THE CLASSICS Poem Text Subject(s): African American Children; Music & Musicians; Race Awareness BLACK BOYS PLAY THE CLASSICS First Line: The most popular 'act' in %penn station Last Line: B: amazing! I did not think that they could speak this tongue BLACKBOTTOM: 1945 Poem Text Recitation First Line: When relatives came from out of town Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations BLACKBOTTOM: 1945 First Line: When relatives came from out of town Last Line: Whose very existence %tore us down to the human Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations BLESSING First Line: Dear sister sylvia, %you told me I should write a letter to my father, to put Last Line: By hatred and neither is he BODY AWAKENING First Line: Each morning when I get up I sit with the body Last Line: Nothing on earth will change. But this BOOKS First Line: Today lorca and pound BOOKSTORE Poem Text First Line: I ask the clerk to show me children's books. I say Last Line: To her shoulders, and the names of the missing are clear Subject(s): Booksellers; Bookstores BOOKSTORE First Line: I ask the clerk to show me children's books. I say Last Line: To her shoulders, and the names of the missing are clear Subject(s): Booksellers BOY AT THE PATERSON FALLS Poem Text First Line: I am thinking of that boy who bragged about the day he threw Last Line: Would walk into the soft hands of a killer for a crumb of bread Subject(s): Sadism BOY AT THE PATERSON FALLS First Line: I am thinking of that boy who bragged about the day he threw Last Line: Would walk into the soft hands of a killer for a crumb of %bread Subject(s): Sadism BROTHER First Line: Jay's mother is brown, mine is white Last Line: Black as god--and brags about that %blackness--so easily recognized, his CHOICE First Line: The children who were shot in johannesburg CHRIST CHILD SPEAKS TO ST. ANTHONY First Line: Your face, oh holy saint, is soft %as flowers. You are my Last Line: Crucified, a man; in your arms, %I am a boy again CHRISTMAS EVE: MY MOTHER DRESSING Poem Text First Line: My mother was not impressed with her beauty Subject(s): Beauty; Mothers CHRISTMAS EVE: MY MOTHER DRESSING First Line: My mother was not impressed with her beauty Last Line: And held the garment away from her %as she pulled it down Subject(s): Beauty; Mothers CLITORIS First Line: This time with your mouth on my clitorins, I will not think Last Line: Who must be coaxed by tenderness COLOR LINE First Line: Black in white in white in black in black in white in white Last Line: In black in black in white in white in black in black in %white in white in black in black in white COMING First Line: Molly peacock in the paris Last Line: She waffles, 'it %depends...' DAMNED First Line: The drawers of my mother's bedroom Last Line: Though it is not clear %if either of us can be saved Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights DEAD BABY SPEAKS First Line: I am taking in taking in Last Line: Then I bite down DEATH AT STILL POINT First Line: The hunter must be good, because the Last Line: Her faith returned DISTRUST OF LOGIC First Line: It was after his skull lodged down Subject(s): Nuclear War ELEGY FOR MY HUSBAND Poem Text First Line: What was there is no longer there: Subject(s): Death; Marriage; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; ABOVE ELMINA First Line: At the top of the castle Last Line: This is the house of god EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; BENEATH ELMINA First Line: Down the long, stone ramp Last Line: Was their bodies' fit EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; MARKET First Line: Those huge platters on their heads on which everything Last Line: A beauty shaped by women's hands EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; POWER First Line: The palace of an african king Last Line: We take care of him as if the present king were his father.' EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; SLAVERY First Line: It had struck some of the african americans Last Line: Is that perhaps your ancestors escaped.' EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; THE JOURNEY First Line: There is no perfect %past to go back to. Each time I look Last Line: What you wait for, I wait for EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; THE TOUR First Line: The castle, always on an Last Line: Point of interest to our guide EXITS FROM ELMINA CASTLE: CAPE COAST, GHANA; TOURISTS' LUNCH First Line: On a rise, overlooking Last Line: Deep in the weary atlantic FAMILY SECRETS First Line: They told my cousin rowena not to marry Last Line: Broke, & many of the gods we loved %in secret were freed FEARS OF THE EIGHTH GRADE Poem Text First Line: When I ask what things they fear Subject(s): Education; Schools; Students FEARS OF THE EIGHTH GRADE First Line: When I ask what things they fear Last Line: The dead rising from the boiling seas Subject(s): Education; Schools FEEDING First Line: My grandmother Last Line: Feeding on the sapless %lie, %even now %the taste of emptiness %weights my mouth FIELD TRIP First Line: The girls at ferrand weren't retarded Last Line: On them-to find unsquashable muscle FIFTY First Line: You are clinging to the side Last Line: Breath. Your body is a raft of timber %as driven as an ark -safe - with black %squares at each windo FOR A GODCHILD, REGINA, ON THE OCCASION OF HER FIRST LOVE Poem Text First Line: Blood sister / our fingers join beneath the veins Last Line: & walk under the cool trees Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights; Feminism FOR A GODCHILD, REGINA, ON THE OCCASION OF HER FIRST LOVE First Line: Blood sister %our fingers join beneath the veins Last Line: We will climb as on a swing %& walk under the cool trees Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights FOR A MAN WHO SPEAKS WITH BIRDS First Line: Always, around the corners FOR BLACK WOMEN WHO ARE AFRAID First Line: A black woman comes up to me at break in the writing Last Line: Respecting each other's silence FOR MY UNNAMED BROTHER (1943-1943) First Line: I was left out %I was chosen second & then left out Last Line: Better mother I %promise you that FOR SHARAN STRANGE, AFTER A READING First Line: Wasn't it your %face I Last Line: Behind you %luminously now FOR SISTER SUE ELLEN AND HER SPECIAL MESSENGER First Line: I thought you were without genitals, that nothing cracked you open and Last Line: The harrowing cleanliness and bright light? Variant Title(s): For My First Grade Teacher And Her Special Messenge FOR SONIA SANCHEZ ON THE PUBLICATION OF SHAKE LOOSE MY SKIN, 1999 First Line: You held the knife %to evil Last Line: We've chosen %who we love FOR THE DEAD AT JACKSON STATE Poem Text First Line: Whose names I don't know Last Line: Whispering their syllables Subject(s): Jackson State College Killings (1970); Racism FOR THE DEAD AT JACKSON STATE Last Line: Names I cannot answer to %that in my heart keep %whispering their syllables Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970 FOR THE DISHWASHER AT BOOTHMAN'S First Line: I sit in front of him FRIENDSHIP First Line: I tell you I am angry %you say you are afraid Last Line: Is ready to go home? In a city %between tunnels--cracks %of darkness in the sea FROM A LETTER: ABOUT SNOW First Line: I am at a retreat house, still point, not too far from yaddo Last Line: Now we're sitting in the shade by the community house while I %write this letter FURIOUS BOY First Line: In the classroom, the furious boy-a heavy star GOOD OLD DOG First Line: I will lay down my silk robe GOOD SEASON FOR FLEAS First Line: Fleas worry that they Last Line: Such opportunity, such ease! GRACE PALEY READING First Line: Finally, the audience gets Last Line: She didn't do her job.' HAMTRAMCK: THE POLISH WOMEN First Line: What happend to the beautiful girls with slender hips and bright round HESTER'S SONG Poem Text First Line: I rode you piggy back Last Line: Ever to come of alchemy Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights; Feminism HESTER'S SONG First Line: I rode you piggy back Last Line: You are the one gold %ever to come of alchemy Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights HIGH SCHOOL First Line: I didn't want to be HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL First Line: Couldn't stand to see these new young faces, these Last Line: Like the shining faces of children in the nursery, I held %onto that image of innocence like one lig HOUSE ON NORWOOD First Line: That brick bungalow IN AN URBAN SCHOOL Poem Text First Line: The guard picks dead leaves from plants Last Line: Was found dead in an empty lot Subject(s): African Americans – Childen; Schools; Ghettos IN AN URBAN SCHOOL First Line: The guard picks dead leaves from plants Last Line: Germaine's mother, a junkie, %was found dead in an empty lot IN KNOWLWEDGE OF YOUNG BOYS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I knew you before you had a mother Last Line: Brave before memory Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks IN KNOWLWEDGE OF YOUNG BOYS First Line: I knew you before you had a mother Last Line: Mouth, uncut, we were %brave before memory Subject(s): African Americans IN THE MOUNTAINS First Line: My beloved was afraid. There was nothing Last Line: Darkness and turned her head %from me, and she would not speak INVENTORY First Line: In a charleston, south carolina, gift store Last Line: We can't keep it in stock!' the saleslady tells me Variant Title(s): 1994 Inventor INVISIBLE DREAMS Poem Text Subject(s): Insomnia; Sleeplessness INVISIBLE DREAMS First Line: There's a sickness in me. During Last Line: Command the bones of my left %to climb down JOSEPH'S DREAM First Line: They placed his staff on the altar with her other suitors'. Overnight, his Last Line: Rapture? I steady myself on a wobble, this staff %exuding light LEAVING First Line: She never went back to the ward for the girls, except Last Line: Insects continued to hum and move their metal arms. %the ones that were left fed them like robots LETTER TO MISS GLAZER First Line: Your face is creased from the lack of desire for beauty MINKS First Line: In the backyard of our house on norwood, Last Line: The shining of the soul, gives us each %character and beauty. Variant Title(s): Captivity: The Mink Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970; Loss; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration MIRROR POEMS, SELS. MY DAD & SARDINES First Line: My dad's going to give me a self Last Line: For me!-as if he was getting away %with murder MY FATHER STILL SLEEPING AFTER SURGERY First Line: In spite of himself MY MOTHER AND DUKE ELLINGTON First Line: My uncle's best friend was the chauffeur Last Line: Even from the back of your head MY UNCLE & WHITE PEOPLE First Line: My uncle said white %people have an Last Line: Light-skinned) for sex. I wanted her %to say yes NATURAL BIRTH, SELS. Subject(s): Birth NOT FORGOTTEN Poem Text First Line: I love the way the black ants use their dead. Subject(s): Mortality NOT FORGOTTEN First Line: I love the way the black ants use their dead Last Line: We'll be forgotten? And he bent down over the grave and weeps NOTE ON MY SON'S FACE First Line: Tonight, I look, thunderstruck %at the gold head of my grandchild Last Line: The worst is true. %everything you did not want to know Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Loss; Minorities - United States; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration; U.s. - Race Relations ON KATCHIMAC BAY: HOMER, ALASKA First Line: I will never forget diane at the wheel Last Line: Eager to be pleased ON STOPPING LATE IN THE AFTERNOON FOR STEAMED DUMPLINGS First Line: The restaurant is empty ON THE MIRACLE OF THE CRYING STATUE: BEFORE YOU BEGIN First Line: What a realization to come Last Line: To taste again the same tears ON THE TURNING UP OF UNIDENTIFIED BLACK FEMALE CORPSES Poem Text First Line: Mowing his three acres with a tractor Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Corpses; Cadavers ON THE TURNING UP OF UNIDENTIFIED BLACK FEMALE CORPSES First Line: Mowing his three acres with a tractor Last Line: That digs me up with this pen %and turns my sad black face to the light Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Corpses ORIGINS OF THE ARTIST: NATALIE COLE First Line: My father %was black, black Last Line: His blackness %entered %me like god PASSING (1) First Line: A professor invites me to his 'black lit' class, they're Last Line: What did he write?' %my father quizzed me PASSING (2) Poem Text First Line: A professor invites me to his black lit class; they're Last Line: My father quizzed me Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Estrangement; Outcasts PASSING (2) First Line: A professor invites me to his black lit class; they're Last Line: What do you think %he would always write?' my father'd say Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social PLAID PANTS First Line: At the bus terminal she says POEM FOR MY FATHER Poem Text First Line: You closed the door Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters POEM FOR MY FATHER First Line: You closed the door Last Line: Old man whose sperm swims in my veins, %come back in love, come back in pain Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters POET First Line: Like jesus, emily Last Line: Remake her with our minds POLISHERS OF BRASS First Line: I am thinking of the men who polish brass in georgetown Last Line: Where they started, it has already tarnished, and the must begin again Subject(s): African Americans PRESENTATION First Line: They wheeled her out of the delivery room on a silver cart Last Line: Whatever was left, hung limp: a dumb creature, numbly %attending PROMISE First Line: I will never again Last Line: Back to heaven; I will not hold %her glittering robe, but let it %drift above me until I see %the la RICE KING OF THE SOUTH First Line: The history of crowley, louisiana leaves out black people Last Line: Lowering darkened windows, %they slow down respectfully and nod SATURDAY NIGHT First Line: We come home from the movie, and you head for the t.V. Last Line: "I am so lonely,"" I say. ""so lonely." Subject(s): Love - Complaints; Solitude; Loneliness SHOE REPAIR BUSINESS First Line: This shoe is shiny Last Line: Shiny as a negro's heel.' SITTING WITH MYSELF IN THE SETON HALL DELI AT 12 O'CLOCK THURSDAY Poem Text First Line: When I read with them, when I hear them Last Line: All these various voices? Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) SITTING WITH MYSELF IN THE SETON HALL DELI AT 12 O'CLOCK THURSDAY First Line: When I read with them, when I hear them Last Line: I wish we could hear all the writings from people's notebooks Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) SONG FOR A HAT First Line: When I put my hat on level Last Line: Then she does %hurrying to catch up SOUL First Line: & what if we are Last Line: Deeper SQUEAKY BED First Line: At your mother's house we lie ST. PETER CLAVER Poem Text First Line: Every town with black catholics has a st. Peter claver's Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Education; Schools; Students ST. PETER CLAVER First Line: Every town with black catholics has a st. Peter claver's Last Line: I was tricked again, robbed of my patron, %and left with a debt to another white man Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan; Education; Schools STINKBUGS Poem Text First Line: Ugly armored STRUGGLE First Line: We didn't want to be white - or did we? Last Line: Our hands folding the paper money, tearing the bills STUCK First Line: The traffic backs up TENDER First Line: The tenderest meat %comes from the houses Last Line: Is to give a little %wine before killing TESTIMONY OF SISTER MAUREEN First Line: Sister maureen murphy, a teaching nun in Last Line: God- %mother, %god %will take my place THE DAMNED Poem Text First Line: The drawers of my mother's bedroom Last Line: If either of us can be saved Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Women's Rights; Feminism THE FRIENDSHIP Poem Text First Line: I tell you I am angry Last Line: Of darkness in sea Subject(s): Friendship THE MINKS Poem Text First Line: In the backyard of our house on norwood, Last Line: Character and beauty Variant Title(s): Captivity: The Minks Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970; Loss; Moving & Movers; Refugees; United States - Immigration & Emigtration THE POLISHERS OF BRASS Poem Text First Line: I am thinking of the men who polish brass in georgetown Last Line: Started, it has already tarnished, and they must begin again Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks THE WEAKNESS Poem Text First Line: That time my grandmother dragged me Subject(s): Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers TIEDOWN First Line: They tie my father's hands and feet TO A CRUEL LOVER WHO READ ABOUT ME IN THE PAPER First Line: What girl wouldn't want to get a letter from the lover Last Line: No, I am not the same TO A TRAVELER First Line: You are welcome at every house Last Line: We climb in TOUCH First Line: In my mind's eye Last Line: One touch of your lips has stunned TOUCHING / NOT TOUCHING: MY MOTHER First Line: That first night in the hotel bedroom TRANSITION First Line: You can push... %I hung there. Still hurting, not knowing what to do Last Line: Light, like thirsty women shining with their thirst TWO POEMS: BIRD First Line: The secret is Last Line: Coursing out of its throat like a river TWO POEMS: PERIPHERAL First Line: Maybe it's a bat's wings Last Line: Beating, its back in a heavy %black cloak WEAKNESS First Line: That time grandmother dragged me WHEN MY FATHER WAS BEATING ME First Line: I'd hear my mother in the kitchen preparing dinner. I'd hear the spoons Last Line: I'll knock it off. Dry up,' he'd scream, 'and eat.' WHITMAN, COME AGAIN TO THE CITIES First Line: Father who found this vibrant light WORKSHOP ON RACISM (1) Poem Text First Line: Her mother is crying Last Line: "black"" is not a color, it is a Subject(s): Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry WORKSHOP ON RACISM (1) First Line: Her mother is crying Last Line: Black' is not just a color but a way to inflict pain Subject(s): Racism WORKSHOP ON RACISM (2) First Line: Her mother is crying Last Line: Black' is not a color, it is a %blazing skin Subject(s): Racism |
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