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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: hayden, robert Matches Found: 126 Hayden, Robert Earl Poet's Biography 126 poems available by this author A LETTER FROM PHILLIS WHEATLEY First Line: Dear obour / our crossing was without Subject(s): Wheatley, Phillis (1753-1784) A PLAGUE OF STARLINGS (FISK CAMPUS) Poem Text First Line: Evenings I hear / the workmen fire Subject(s): Fisk University; Starlings AKHENATEN First Line: Upon the AMERICAN JOURNAL First Line: Here among them the americans this baffling Last Line: Their elan vital and that some thing essence %quiddity I cannot penetrate or name ANGLE OF ASCENT Subject(s): Alphabet Verse APPROXIMATIONS First Line: In dead of winter AS MY BLOOD WAS DRAWN ASTRONAUTS First Line: Armored in oxygen Last Line: What do we ask of ourselves? AUNT JEMIMA OF THE OCEAN WAVES First Line: Enacting someone's notion of themselves Last Line: Don't you take no wooden nickels, hear? %tin dimes neither. So long, pal BAHA' U'LLAH IN THE GARDEN OF RIDWAN First Line: Agonies confirm his hour Last Line: Glorias of recognition. %whithin the rock the undiscovered suns %release their light BALLAD OF NAT TURNER First Line: Then fled, o brethren, the wicked juba Subject(s): Turner, Nat (1800-1831) BALLAD OF REMEMBRANCE First Line: Quadroon mermaids, afro angels, black saints Last Line: But also, mark van doren, %a poem of remembrance, a gift, a souvenir for you BALLAD OF SUE ELLEN WESTERFIELD First Line: She grew up in bedeviled southern wilderness Last Line: Until her dying-bed, %she cursed the circumstance BEGINNINGS First Line: Plowdens, finns Last Line: In his grave. Open %for him, blue door BELSEN, DAY OF LIBERATION First Line: Her parents and her dolls destroyed Last Line: They were so beautiful %and they were not afraid Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; World War Ii BONE-FLOWER ELEGY First Line: In the dream I enter the house Last Line: Angelbeast shining come %to rend me and redeem BROKEN DARK First Line: Sleepless, I stare BURLY FADING ONE BUTTERFLY PIECE First Line: Brazilian butterflies, static and perfect as CRISPUS ATTUCKS First Line: Name in a footnote. Faceless name Last Line: By bayonets, forever falling Subject(s): African Americans; Attucks, Crispus (1723-1770); Boston Massacre DANCE THE ORANGE First Line: And dance this DAWNBREAKER First Line: Ablaze %with candles sconced DAY OF THE DEAD First Line: The vultures hover wheel and hover DIVER First Line: Sank through easeful Last Line: Somehow began the %measured rise Subject(s): Scuba Diving; Sea; Sports DOGWOOD TREES First Line: Seeing dogwood trees in bloom Last Line: Of the odds against comradeship we dared %and were at one DOUBLE FEATURE First Line: At dunbar, castle or arcade DREAM First Line: That evening sinda thought she heard the drums Last Line: & hope to see you soon yrs cal Subject(s): Slavery EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ Poem Text First Line: The icy evil that struck his father down Subject(s): African Americans; Malcolm X (malcolm Little) (1925-1965); Negroes; American Blacks EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ First Line: The icy evil that struck his father down Last Line: Were one. He rose renewed renamed, became %much more than there was time for him to be Subject(s): African Americans; Malcolm X (malcolm Little) (1925-1965) ELECTRICAL STORM First Line: God's angry with the world again ELEGIES FOR PARADISE VALLEY First Line: My shared bedroom's window %opened on alley stench Last Line: The devil's own rag baby doll Subject(s): Detroit, Michigan ENTRANCES AND TABLEAUX FOR JOSEPHINE BAKER First Line: We see her in the next to final scene Last Line: Mockery, with something poignant %as down-home blues FIGURE First Line: He would slump to his knees, now that his agonies Last Line: In metaphor of a place, a time. Is our %time geometrized Subject(s): African Americans FOR A YOUNG ARTIST First Line: Sprawled in the pigsty FREDERICK DOUGLASS Poem Text First Line: When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful Subject(s): African Americans; Douglass, Frederick (1817-1895); Freedom; Negroes; American Blacks; Liberty FREDERICK DOUGLASS First Line: When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful Last Line: Fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing Subject(s): African Americans; Douglass, Frederick (1817-1895); Freedom FREE FANTASIA: TIGER FLOWERS First Line: The sporting people %along st. Antoine Last Line: Claws - I choose it %now as elegy %for tiger flowers FROM WHOM THE CORPSE WOODPILES, FROM THE ASHES FULL MOON First Line: No longer throne of a goddess to whom we pray GULLS First Line: In sun-whetted HOMAGE TO PAUL ROBESON First Line: Call him deluded, say that he HOMAGE TO THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES Poem Text First Line: Because there was a man somewhere in a candystripe silk shirt Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women; Blues (music); Jazz; Music & Musicians; Singing & Singers; Smith, Bessie (1894-1937); Negroes; American Blacks; Songs HOMAGE TO THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES First Line: Because there was a man somewhere in a candystripe silk shirt Last Line: And shone that smile on us and sang Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women; Blues (music); Jazz; Music And Musicians; Singing And Singers; Smith, Bessie (1894-1937) ICE STORM First Line: Unable to sleep, or pray, I stand Last Line: My god, than they? IDOL First Line: Wail of the newborn, cry of the dying IN LIGHT HALF NIGHTMARE AND HALF VISION First Line: From the corpse woodpiles, from the ashes and staring pits Last Line: Is in his eyes; his suffering transilluminates %the suffering of an age Subject(s): African Americans; Persecution IN THE MOURNING TIME First Line: As the gook woman howls INCENSE OF THE LUCKY VIRGIN ISLANDS First Line: Always this waking dream of palmtrees Last Line: Abandoned for a time their long pursuit JOHN BROWN First Line: Loved feared hated KID First Line: He is found with the homeless dogs KILLING THE CALVES First Line: Threatened by abundance, the ranchers KODACHROMES OF THE ISLAND First Line: Halfnaked children LA CORRIDA First Line: From the blind kingdom LEAR IS GAY First Line: That gaiety oh LETTER First Line: It was as though you struggled against LETTER FROM PHILLIS WHEATLEY First Line: Dear obour %our crossing was without Last Line: Abundantly. In his name, %phillis Subject(s): Wheatley, Phillis (1753-1784) LIONS First Line: With what panache, he said LOCUS First Line: Here redbuds like momentary trees MARKET First Line: Ragged boys %lift sweets, haggle Last Line: Looks down with eyes %of sunstruck glass Subject(s): African Americans MIDDLE PASSAGE Poem Text First Line: Jesus, estrella, esperanza, mercy Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks MIDDLE PASSAGE First Line: Jesus, estrella, esperanza, mercy Last Line: Voyage through death %to life upon these shores Subject(s): African Americans MIDDLE PASSAGE: 1 First Line: Sails flashing to the wind like weapons Last Line: Further deponent sayeth not.' %pilot oh pilot me MIDDLE PASSAGE: 2 First Line: Aye, lad, and I have seen those factories Last Line: But for the fevers melting down my bones MIDDLE PASSAGE: 3 First Line: Shuttles in the rocking loom of history Last Line: Voyage through death %to life upon these shores MIRAGES First Line: Exhaustion among rocks MONET'S WATERLILIES First Line: Today as the news from selma and saigon Last Line: Each of us has lost. %here is the shadow of its joy MOOSE WALLOW First Line: Friends warned of moose that MOUNTAINS First Line: Dark as if cloven from darkness MOURNING POEM FOR THE QUEEN OF SUNDAY Poem Text First Line: Lord's lost him his mockingbird Subject(s): African Americans; Mourning; Negroes; American Blacks; Bereavement MOURNING POEM FOR THE QUEEN OF SUNDAY First Line: Lord's lost him his mockingbird Last Line: Who would have thought, %who would have thought she'd end that way? Subject(s): African Americans; Mourning MYSTERY BOY' LOOKS FOR KIN IN NASHVILLE First Line: Puzzle faces in the dying elms Last Line: We'll go and find them, we'll go %and ask them for your nam e again NAMES First Line: Once they were sticks and stones NEFERT-ITI First Line: A memory NIGHT, DEATH, MISSISSIPPI Poem Text First Line: A quavering cry. Screech-owl? Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.) NIGHT, DEATH, MISSISSIPPI First Line: A quavering cry. Screech-owl? Last Line: O night betrayed by darkness not its own Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Southern States NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS First Line: And so for nights Last Line: We spoke %in whispers when %we spoke %at all Subject(s): Cactus O DAEDALUS, FLY AWAY HOME First Line: Drifting night in the georgia pines Last Line: O fly away home fly away OCTOBER First Line: October - %its plangency, its glow Last Line: Crashing set %the snow on fire ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN First Line: I listen for the sounds of cannon, cries ON THE COAST OF MAINE First Line: Ancestral, alone, under stone they lie Last Line: Gulls, %scouting and %crying Subject(s): African Americans PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text First Line: We lay red roses on his grave Subject(s): Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906) PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text First Line: We lay red roses on his grave Last Line: With stones, then drive away Subject(s): Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906) PEACOCK ROOM First Line: Ars longa which is crueller Last Line: A bronze bodhisattva's ancient smile Subject(s): Death PERFORMERS First Line: Easily, almost matter-of-factly they step PERSEUS Poem Text First Line: Her sleeping head with its great gelid mass Subject(s): Medusa; Mythology - Classical; Perseus PLAGUE OF STARLINGS (FISK CAMPUS) First Line: Evenings I hear %the workmen fire Last Line: In the piercing dark %above the killed Subject(s): Fisk University; Starlings POINT (STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT) First Line: Land's end. And sound and river come Last Line: Like memories in the mind of god PRISONERS First Line: Steel doors - guillotine gates Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners RABBI First Line: Where I grew up, I used to see RAG MAN First Line: In scarecrow patches and tatters, face RETURN First Line: Rooms are grotesque with furniture of snow RICHARD HUNT'S 'ARACHNE' First Line: Human face becoming locked insect face Last Line: In the moment's centrifuge of dying becoming ROAD IN KENTUCKY First Line: And when that ballad lady went RUNAGATE RUNAGATE Poem Text First Line: Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness Subject(s): Slavery; Underground Railroad; Serfs RUNAGATE RUNAGATE First Line: Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness Last Line: Come ride-a my train %mean mean mean to be free Subject(s): Slavery; Underground Railroad SMELT FISHING First Line: In the cold spring night SNOW First Line: Smooths and burdens SNOW LAMP, SELS. First Line: It is beginning oh SOLEDAD Poem Text First Line: Naked, he lies in the blinded room Last Line: Oh swings: beyond complete immortal now. Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Davis, Miles (1926-1991); Holiday, Billie (1915-1959); Jazz; Music & Musicians; Singing & Singers; Songs SPHINX First Line: If he could solve the riddle Last Line: It possible to live without %my joke and me STARS First Line: Stood there then among SUB SPECIE AETERNITATIS First Line: High amid SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING' Poem Text First Line: Nobody planted roses, he recalls Subject(s): Summer SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING' First Line: Nobody planted roses, he recalls Last Line: Set the ghetto burgeoning %with fantasies %of ethiopia spreading her gorgeous wings Subject(s): Summer TATTOOED MAN First Line: I gaze at you THE DIVER First Line: Sank through easeful Subject(s): Scuba Diving; Sea; Sports; Ocean THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS Poem Text First Line: And so for nights Subject(s): Cactus THE WHIPPING Poem Text First Line: The old woman across the way Subject(s): Child Molesting; Hate; Child Abuse THEME AND VARIATION Poem Text First Line: Fossil, fuchsia, mantis, man THEORY OF EVIL First Line: Big harpe, little harpe THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS Poem Text Recitation First Line: Sundays too my father got up early Subject(s): Children; Family Life; Fathers; Home; Men; Sabbath; Winter; Childhood; Relatives; Sunday THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS First Line: Sundays too my father got up early Last Line: What did I know, what did I know %of love's austere and lonely offices? Subject(s): Children; Family Life; Fathers; Home; Men; Sabbath; Winter TOUR 5 First Line: The road winds down through autumn hills Last Line: Metallic, flayed; its brightness harsh as bloodstained swords Subject(s): African Americans TRAVELING THROUGH FOG First Line: Looking back, we cannot see UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT First Line: It's true mattie lee VERACRUZ First Line: Sunday afternoon %and couples walk the breakwater VERACRUZ First Line: Sunday afternoon WEB First Line: My hand by chance WHEEL First Line: Gentle and smiling as before WHIPPING First Line: The old woman across the way Last Line: Avenged in part for lifelong hidings %she has had to bear Subject(s): Child Molesting; Hate WITCH DOCTOR First Line: He dines alone surrounded by reflections WORDS IN THE MOURNING TIME First Line: For king, for robert kennedy YEAR OF THE CHILD First Line: And you have come ZEUS OVER REDEYE First Line: Enclave where new mythologies ZINNIAS First Line: Gala, holding on |
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