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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: johnson, helene Matches Found: 47 Johnson, Helene Poet's Biography 47 poems available by this author BOTTLED Poem Text First Line: Upstairs on the third floor / of the 135th street library / in harlem Last Line: Gee, that poor shine! Variant Title(s): Bottled: New York Subject(s): African Americans - Women BOY LIKE ME First Line: First boy I wish I had a boy like me, debonair, with Last Line: May I be a mother, too, %like you? Made in your image? CUI BONO? First Line: She sat all day and thought of love Last Line: And with regret our little dove %continues quite anaemic FIAT LUX First Line: Her eyes had caught a bit of loveliness Last Line: He flung the whip into the flower bed, %he did not even note that she was dead FOR JASON First Line: Little boys are so pleasant Last Line: Are we afraid of the reflection in their eyes? FORAGING First Line: I cannot go on living in this very little way Last Line: I might sneak out and get myself a little bit of jam FULFILLMENT Poem Text First Line: To climb a hill that hungers for the sky Last Line: And to die bleeding -- consummate with life. Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women; Negroes; American Blacks FUTILITY First Line: It is silly- %this waiting for love Last Line: When love is singing up and down the alley %without a collar GOIN' NO'TH First Line: Good tune to dat song alright, %but de words was jes'a mess of lies Last Line: Good tune to dat song alright, but de words %was jes'a mess of lies HE'S ABOUT 22. I'M 63 First Line: He's about 22. I'm 63. %a pity! He's so pretty! Last Line: (or less jubilantly, %'mercy!') I AM NOT PROUD First Line: I am not proud that I am bold Last Line: And boldness came with that INVOCATION Poem Text First Line: Let me be buried in the rain Last Line: Grow high above my head. Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women; Negroes; American Blacks LET ME SING MY SONG First Line: Let me sing my song, %let me speak my piece Last Line: The flower's breath- %I fear the barren drought of death LITTLE LOVE First Line: A shy ear bared %for incipient kisses Last Line: But hide the shy ear with a curl, my pet, %and that little secret,-forget LOVE IN MIDSUMMER First Line: Ah love %is like a throbbing wind Last Line: Ah love %is down from off the white moon's nest MAGALU Poem Text First Line: Summer comes / the ziczac hovers Last Line: For a creed that will not let you dance? Variant Title(s): Magula Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Missionaries & Missions METAMORPHISM First Line: Is this the sea? Last Line: This strange tempestuous soliloquy of nature, %all these-the sea? MISSIONARY BRINGS A YOUNG NATIVE TO AMERICA First Line: All day she heard the mad stampede of feet Last Line: Unholy dreams while waiting for the light MOMENT OF DIGNITY First Line: Give me a moment of dignity %of pragmatic worth Last Line: Before I nestle pleasantly %into the rubbish MONOTONE First Line: My life is but a single attitude Last Line: Precisely pretty, if impersonal;- %but half conceived, yet not inadequate MOTHER First Line: Soft hair faintly white where the angels touch it Last Line: And bury them pointed and jagged in her soul- %that I may smile MY RACE First Line: Ah my race, %hungry race Last Line: Unformed race, %fumbling in birth NIGHT First Line: The moon flung down the bower of her hair Last Line: Then bound her hair about her head again PLEA OF A PLEBEIAN First Line: I'd like to be a lady. Gee- %a lady with a pedigree Last Line: And still inspire gallantry, %were I a dame of pedigree POEM Poem Text First Line: Little brown boy / slim, dark, big-eyed Last Line: You are. Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Children; African Americans - Women; Negroes; American Blacks QUEST First Line: When you are old you become singular and dry Last Line: How elegant, %to genuflect (or curtsy), and to die REGALIA First Line: Stokin' stoves, %emptin' garbage Last Line: In a big apartment house in harlem, %than anything else REMEMBER NOT Poem Text First Line: Remember not the promises we made Last Line: Let love's beginning expiate love's end. ROOTBOUND First Line: Heavy shovels %boiling soapsuds Last Line: Sun, %but it was really very kinky at the roots RUSTIC FANTASY First Line: The goat's milk is sweeter Last Line: The bees are warm with honey SONNET (BE NOT AVERSE TO BEAUTY) First Line: Be not averse to beauty or to love Last Line: So eat your warm white bread and drink and drink SONNET (WISDOM MAY CAUTION) First Line: Your dark head lies complacent on my breast Last Line: Wisdom may caution, but it will not mend SONNET TO A NEGRO IN HARLEM Poem Text First Line: You are disdainful and magnificent Last Line: You are too splendid for this city street. Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women; Americans; Harlem (new York City); United States; Negroes; American Blacks; America SOUTHERN ROAD First Line: Yolk-colored tongue %parched beneath a burning sky Last Line: Swinging alone, %a solemn, tortured shadow in the air STREET TO THE ESTABLISHMENT First Line: You're the old. I'm the new Last Line: I'm the aborted %I'm the itch SUMMER MATURES Poem Text First Line: The brilliant-bellied newt flashes Last Line: Come. Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Sappho (610-580 B.c.) THE ROAD Poem Text First Line: Ah, little road all whirry in the breeze Last Line: Rise to one brimming golden, spilling cry! Subject(s): African Americans - Women TIME AFTER TIME First Line: Time after time %there is a %once upon a time Last Line: Gulp the joy! %belch the pity! %straddle the city! TREES AT NIGHT First Line: Slim sentinels %stretching lacy arms Last Line: The trembling beauty %of an urgent pine Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women VERS DE SOCIETE First Line: And if I was mistaken Last Line: Only the dead are leal WAR First Line: War is delectable %the blood %the shredded limb Last Line: Trace your fiscal logo. %it's there, somewhere WAR-PART 2 First Line: More? More of the same? %yes. More of the same Last Line: Votre sante! %salud! Ole! WHAT DO I CARE FOR MORNING Last Line: Night is here, yielding and tender- %what do I care for dawn! Subject(s): African Americans; African Americans - Women WHIMSY OF IT ALL First Line: A little room at the end of a hall Last Line: Or to enjoy the whimsy of it all? WHY DO THEY PRATE? First Line: Why do they prate of youth so much? Last Line: The ripening of the fruit WIDOW WITH A MORAL OBLIGATION First Line: Won't you come again, my friend? Last Line: And we shall have a night of love %and death in one WORSHIP First Line: I want to worship god Last Line: As I turn and blindly make my way back to the church %I want to worship god |
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