![]() |
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DESERT DISILLUSION, by BERTON BRALEY Poet's Biography First Line: Oh, ladies who seek for a peek at a sheik Last Line: But don't go away to sahara! Subject(s): African Americans; Sahara Desert; Negroes; American Blacks | |||
(Wanda Hawley, the movie star, says that the real Sheik of the desert is usually seventy and black) Oh, ladies who seek for a peek at a Sheik Who lives his life rudely and rawly, A Bedouin grand in the land of the sand Consider the words of Miss Hawley. "A Sheik," she reports, "is a geek who's antique, And black as a heavy cigarro, A patriarch dark, who as you may remark Is not like young Ramon Navarro." How sad is the shock to the feminine flock To find that the Sheik in his glory Of whom writers tell is awell, just a sell, And only exists in a story. The deep wrinkles streak the bleak cheek of the sheik Who isn't a bold young deceiver, But old as the hills. Why, he kills all the thrills This antediluvian Beaver. So ladies who yearn and who burn to discern A Sheik who's a torrid bambino, Don't roam o'er the foam but remain here at home And worship some new Valentino. You shriek for a Sheik who is sleek, young, unique? You seek, very likely, to share a Romance with a Sheik? See the films once a week But don't go away to Sahara! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY AUNT ELLA MAE by MICHAEL S. HARPER DERRICK POEM (THE LOST WORLD) by TERRANCE HAYES ODE TO BIG TREND by TERRANCE HAYES WOOFER (WHEN I CONSIDER THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN) by TERRANCE HAYES CONDITIONS XXI by ESSEX HEMPHILL |
|