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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: DUMAS, HENRY Matches Found: 193 Dumas, Henry Poet's Biography 193 poems available by this author AFRO-AMERICAN First Line: My black mother birthed me Last Line: Blow africa %on me as you would a holy reed AMERICA First Line: If an eagle be imprisoned Last Line: The coin will spin, %the coin will flutter, %but the eagle will never fly ASALI First Line: This honey you gave me Last Line: Your fingers flowing like rivers %of weeping silk ASCENSION First Line: The black kite %wooden bones cracking against the wind Last Line: And the eagle sees me %beyond that ...? BALANCE First Line: The saline walkers held a feast Last Line: And the kind of bitterness %came and ruled over them BEYOND SELVES First Line: How did I come to see myself in the mirror? Last Line: By stripping in front of the mirror %with your eyes closed BLACK STAR LINE First Line: My black mothers I hear them singing Last Line: Study what mars and what lifts up. %dip into this river with your ebony cups BLACK TRUMPETER First Line: We must kill our gods before they kill us Last Line: The wing praises the root by taking to the limbs %we are americans looking in the mirror of africa BROWN SOUND First Line: Brown sound chocolate %memories Last Line: Is the last time %like that BROWN SOUNDS Poem Text First Line: Brown sound chocolate BUFFALO First Line: I caught the american bull Last Line: Thinking, that if I ever %caught the american bull %I would die BUSTER First Line: Now when I was a kid, my mama Last Line: Hmmmm buster one, hmmmm buster two %dance the buster the whole night through CARDINAL First Line: I do not believe that red on the scientific table Last Line: That is old %the cardinal has no red name like fire or crown COAT OF MANY FIBERS First Line: Out of the red earth Last Line: And a grasp on the white fiber %the fingers spun a hymn to god COMING OF THE EAGLES First Line: Let us have eagles! Last Line: Into the high country. %let us have eagles! CONCENTRATION CAMP BLUES First Line: I ain't jokin people, I aint playin around Subject(s): Ghettos; Jazz; Music & Musicians CONCENTRATION CAMP BLUES First Line: I ain't jokin people, I aint playin around Last Line: I aint jokin, I got to get outa his camp %cause the man is ready to number us all with a rubber stam Subject(s): Ghettos; Jazz; Music And Musicians DECISION, SAYS THE SOURCE Last Line: Has two wings of light %one fusion the other precision DON'T BE TOO SURE First Line: For many nights I heard singing Last Line: My leg like a tiny tank %and devoured the first in my hand EARLY BIRD BLUES First Line: They tell me the early bird catches the worm Last Line: When I catch him baby, you better duck %or you be dead EAST SAINT HELL (UP FROM THE GHETTO) First Line: Recall! %they shall come to you one day Last Line: Say to them %where I come from is where you are going EMOYENI, PLACE OF THE WINDS First Line: Emoyeni, pasing pasing Last Line: Emoyeni going going %I see the coming of the long green rain EMPLOYMENT BLUES First Line: I been to the factory, even got a card to go to sea Last Line: Yeah, I'll drive a truck or dig a ditch %cause without a job, a man's in an awful fix EPIPHANY First Line: A man runs out into a field Last Line: Joyously all %his clothes! FINGERS First Line: Between the great silver veil Last Line: Softly with %fingers of rain FIR First Line: The fir stands. %the man watches Last Line: The man walks away. %'perhaps you are right,' he says FISH First Line: Catfish niggerfish %low in the creek Last Line: Good bait sent catfish went %must be fishin the whiteman's hole FROM JACKHAMMER (1.) First Line: The jackjack backing back and stacking stone Last Line: In the womb of time hiding in the earth %long before the blackman struck FULL MOON First Line: The circle moon %fell upon your face Last Line: Woman %I love you FUNK Poem Text First Line: The great god shango in the african sea FUNK First Line: The great god shango in the african sea Last Line: Reached down with palm oil and oozed out me GHOSTS First Line: Always I wait for the trees to fall Last Line: Always I recall this drowsiness falling %upon me as I take my place GRANDMA'S GOT A WIG First Line: Now I peeped in the closet Last Line: Keep you wig on pretty baby, %or I have to sing the nappy haired blues GREEN HILL GOLDEN MOUNTAIN First Line: Do you remember the honeysuckle hill in the dawn? Last Line: On separate paths, %we climbed the mountain in the skies? HARLEM GULP (1.) First Line: Like ailing crabs %jay-scuttling Last Line: That they lance the tumor %before it is time to fly HARLEM GULP (2.) First Line: Like skeletons %trekking behind olorun Last Line: We know we shall fly %before we die before the light HUNT First Line: Antelope falls %I watch Last Line: I am butang %dog I LAUGH TALK JOKE Last Line: But don't fuck with me %cause I don't play I SAW THE SKY First Line: I saw the sky red above the tree-line Last Line: To add dimension to sound %to prove that one plus one equals two IF I WERE EARTH First Line: Each tear that fell Last Line: And tell him to rise up %and burn me away IF YOU BEHAVE First Line: Well now, %I'll saint you but I wont haint you Last Line: Thas all if you behave yourself %you damn sure will save yourself IKEF First Line: When I was three Last Line: That spun and exploded, %reflecting visions of three IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 10) First Line: They cry 'revolution!' Last Line: Behind the %sun IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 11) First Line: In the green black Last Line: The wolf-ships rock %off shore, ready to rape IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 13) First Line: Cawing %some tune remembered Last Line: When will we cease %bowing? IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 16: GUTS) First Line: 1-into the kaleidoscopic bowl of harlem Last Line: To the sea! %7-even sharks IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 18: BREATHE WITH ME) First Line: When I cry,' said the mountain Last Line: Said the sky. 'come, %breathe with me.' IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 20: SOIL) First Line: Things fell from the trees after Last Line: All that glass money. %somebody's got a lot to pay back IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 21: A LONG TIME COMING) First Line: Snow, like lost cotton heads in the wind Last Line: A long time coming %and coming IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 4) First Line: When we needed rain Last Line: Even the rocks weep %salt for us IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 5: CHILDREN PLAYING) First Line: Like small trees %we hid in the grass Last Line: Sharp words tell %hurry they will see us IKEFS (IKONS OF KEF IKEF 9: BLACK WIDOW) First Line: Red is the hour glass Last Line: Theirs... %look at my watch IMAGE (1.) First Line: I saw %a raindrop Last Line: I was %amazed IMAGE (2.) First Line: Into the dawn light Last Line: Into the night %and it leads IMAGE (3.) First Line: The universe shrank %when you went away Last Line: Everytime I thought your name, %stars fell upon me IMAGE (4.) First Line: With an eyelash %I etched your form Last Line: Upon the moon IMAGE (5.) First Line: The lights gathring %on the night lake Last Line: Sing a thousand songs %of the sleeping sun IMAGE (6.) First Line: The sun %bending over Last Line: This morning %washed his hand IMAGE (7.) First Line: The high hills of hell Last Line: Are low around me ISLAND WITHIN ISLAND First Line: Our voices waved upwards into a tide Last Line: I am the sun %out of me comes everything KEEP THE FAITH BLUES First Line: They say if you aint' got no faith Last Line: Can't let religion %bust open my head KEF 12 Poem Text First Line: Take up the blood from the grass, sun. Subject(s): Nature KEF 141 Poem Text First Line: Gave you my eyes KEF 21 Poem Text First Line: First there was the earth in my mouth. Subject(s): Summer KEF 24 Poem Text First Line: Lay sixteen bales down in front on the plank Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry KEF 25 Poem Text First Line: Gave you my eyesthe swan silvertone singers KEF 35 First Line: You shouldn't have to re sing Last Line: Creating %cre eating! KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 106) First Line: The mosaics are a people filled with color Last Line: God is jus and loves the just. %the mosaics sing, dance, and pray in color KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 107) First Line: The holidays of the mosaics are legends of color Last Line: Number five is the holy day of yellow. %number six is the holy day of blindness KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 124) First Line: The green field undulated Last Line: Give me back my people %or I will swallow you up! KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 13) First Line: They sang, %don't forget the bridge Last Line: Jesus is the bridge %that brought you all over! KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 141) First Line: Gave you my eyes Last Line: Give %I will give again KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 27) First Line: I'm gonna go into the house Last Line: And then I gonna do it, and after I do it, %I'm gonna think about what I did KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 3) First Line: The only legends that I have ever heard Last Line: Language and symbol, then I think it %time that we americans go south and life KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 4) First Line: The sacred temple of gnosaam stands Last Line: Two feet off the ground crying: %al-haam d'ullah, al-haam d' ullah KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 54) First Line: I broke three limbs before I Last Line: Front of me swinging from %side to side like a pendulum KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 73) First Line: Ichneumon came knocking at my door Last Line: He was a giant wolf with wings as wide clouds. %but he was polite KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 86) First Line: Walk with your head held too high Last Line: Out - like a stupid chicken - %to be cut off KEF: FIRST SERIES (KEF 9) First Line: Potato skin beneath my fingernail Last Line: I rather be a 'tato in the sack %than carry a 'tato on my back KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 12) First Line: Take up the blood from the grass, sun Last Line: They are like stone, these people. %now make them lava KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 16) First Line: Down near the levee where the river once Last Line: As I dreamed of giant catfish asleep beneath %the blood KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 2) First Line: I want some mo strawberries Last Line: Which I cherry... %ishh-uuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 22) First Line: There they go %the lips Last Line: I hail thee %death and KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 24) First Line: Lay sixteen bales down in front on the plank Last Line: Howl jesus, %howl! KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 25) First Line: The swan silvertone singers Last Line: And tongue spliting %in the unknown KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 30) First Line: High and up high Last Line: Waiting for the biggest cannibal %in the world to grow very very hungry KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 31) First Line: My head is over Last Line: Which sucks my eyes back %and I think I am sleeping now KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 32) First Line: The night is one wing Last Line: On ozone and uses my %thought for bone KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 33) First Line: Of late I have caved into myself Last Line: Tunneling finally %into bone which leads outside KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 35) First Line: Gimme somo dat %gimme sommo dat Last Line: He say %das gimme somo dat good now gimme oo KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 39) First Line: For thirty one pieces of silver Last Line: We atomize everything baby, %atomisize, thirty one KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 40) First Line: The united hates of america Last Line: We have ships to name %and crews KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 43) First Line: We shall be climbing overr that wall Last Line: Flinging zeus for jesus %singing new notes every target made KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 44) First Line: Off the coast of spain Last Line: You have the years really in tarifa. %I shall fly to this place and lean KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 45) First Line: Nighthawk of time %what message see you over thee barren Last Line: Dine %on us? KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 57) First Line: Kale rocks in the black Last Line: The green leaves up %and the mouth-bridge opens KEF: SECOND SERIES (KEF 6) First Line: Ego told id to do it Last Line: But id didn't hear him %because he was doing it KNEES OF A NATURAL MAN Poem Text First Line: My ole man took me to the fulton fish market Last Line: First thing I do is take a long drink of wine Subject(s): Alphabet Verse KNEES OF A NATURAL MAN First Line: My ole man took me to the fulton fish market Last Line: Next time I go to fulton fish market %first thing I do is take a long drink of wine Subject(s): Alphabet Verse KNOCK ON WOOD First Line: I go out to totem street Last Line: Sometimes I knock on wood %with fist %me and willie play togetherin %and we don't miss LASH - AMERICAN YANKEE SONG First Line: Lash %I take it from you for nothing Last Line: Mine lash the day and the night %lash I am the taker of the booty lash you lash LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF MY HORN Poem Text Subject(s): Music & Musicians LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF MY HORN Last Line: Listen to the sound of my horn, I say, %greaat music and I...Have come at last! Subject(s): Jazz; Music And Musicians LOVE SONG Poem Text First Line: Beloved/I have to adore the earth: Subject(s): Love LOVE SONG First Line: Beloved, %I have to adore the earth Last Line: You have taught her well %how to be beautiful LOVE SONG OF A LAMB First Line: I speak to you Last Line: I am by thy side close by thy side %I am by thy side close and thy side LOW DOWN DOG BLUES First Line: Went to my baby's back door, my baby say she aint home Last Line: Yeah, guess a low down dog better hit the trail %that woman don't even care when a good dog wag his MACHINES CAN DO IT TOO (IBM BLUES) First Line: Looky hear folks, you all better watch out Last Line: If I find a machine in bed with me, %that's the time I'm through MAILMAN BLUES First Line: Mailman, mailman what's takin you so long? Last Line: Please mailman dig up a letter from your sack %I think my baby done left me and I got to get on his MEXICO THROUGH A CLEAR WINDOW First Line: I want you to sit perfectly still Last Line: With me until we see %yellow trees and the blue gulf MISSISSIPPI SONG First Line: I was a mist in the caverns Last Line: I was mist. %now I am water MONTAGE First Line: ...The street walked in front Last Line: Walking into thoughts of brick %and bone behind me where I was MOSAIC HARLEM First Line: What news from the bottle? Last Line: The ram will not stop, what news fromthe bottom? %the east! The west! And the top! MY LITTLE BOY First Line: My little boy speaks Last Line: He comes from. %I like his accent NEW PROPOSAL First Line: I will go with you again to the field Last Line: I never forget the scent of wild roses %and I still see how we used to sail into the sky NGOMA First Line: Put thine ear to my belly o mwanamume Last Line: Louder booms the goat-skin boom-sound louder %louder louder ODE TO ZAMBIA First Line: Hail zambia! %thou art a child born of much struggle Last Line: Your distant brothers on the mississippi %salute you in peace and prosperity OUR KING IS DEAD First Line: The volcano again OUT OF WORK BLUES First Line: Well I went down to the state office Last Line: Hurt me people, specially when I was sittin in the corner %one eye winkin one eye dozin OUTER SPACE BLUES First Line: People, I heard the news the other day Last Line: Guess I wait and see %all I know they might look just like me OWED TO OTIS First Line: I saw the iron wings Last Line: Then I rave %higher higher! PANE OF VISION First Line: They stand upon their shadows near the Last Line: And their society listens and awakes.... %come, it is time to be born PEAS Poem Text First Line: Peas in the pod Subject(s): Peas PEAS First Line: Peas in the pod Last Line: Blackeyes down %blackeyes browneyes going to town PLAY EBONY PLAY IVORY Last Line: Play ebony %play ivory PLAYGROUND IS MY HOME First Line: You kids git out from there 'fore Last Line: And throw it up in the sky %'rainin cotton, rainin cotton.' PUPPETS HAVE A NEW KING First Line: Ulwaca ulooooooo! %oh these cold white hands Last Line: Let us, like little black spears, %bore our way RAINBOW AROUND THE NECK OF NIGHT First Line: From your face where night sleeps Last Line: I will make you queen %of my crown under the sun RESPECTFUL THIER First Line: Wuh,' cried the thief Last Line: They are as good at it %as I am...' RITE Poem Text First Line: Vodu green clinching his waist, Subject(s): Religion; Theology RITE First Line: Vodu green clinching hiss waist Last Line: Bathe me in blood. %I am not clean ROOT SONG First Line: Once when I was tree Last Line: It is time that flesh %bow down on his knee again! ROSE JUNGLE First Line: For thirty-one years he planted roses Last Line: Embrace the earth. %I will not lessen their love SABA (1) First Line: There are maggots in my corn Last Line: For the factory which %has no command of flies SABA (10) First Line: We shall be baking stones upon the mesa Last Line: To reach ice and %break stones into black blood buried undersun? SABA (11) First Line: Kite string %wordlesss tongue Last Line: Jonah upon a dry land is stumbling %broken-necked into my reflections SABA (13) First Line: The hand that %lovely womanish Last Line: Then points %old woman I love your babe SABA (2) First Line: The word shall descend Last Line: And it shall %stop us before we break SABA (3) First Line: All the letters I have written you Last Line: I am learning/the alphabet/of the wind %footsteps SABA (4) First Line: I am taking pictures over this bridge Last Line: Eleventh: I caught you forgetting me %twelfth: negative: between us, a shutter SABA (5) First Line: We were piling feathers on a long plain Last Line: What we built in laughter under the wind %is captured forever on each feather SABA (6) First Line: Statues do not feel like that Last Line: Billowing shadows of brown skins %jamming the world inside out SABA (7) First Line: I lay in the gutter Last Line: Tell zeus I have caught %pegasus to ride inside SABA (8) First Line: Tao was the first priest Last Line: The garden %(a green garden of snakes and streams SABA (9) First Line: We weep that our heroes have died Last Line: We will not weep but sing him %up SABA IN First Line: Within the wailing %soon lines stagger Last Line: Within %working up oldmen's tales of me SABA OF THE SNOW AND THE SUN First Line: Your eyes made the bridge of our existence Last Line: The sun is black %your sighs made the signs of our insistence SABA OUT First Line: Sx waterings %streams %striking aorta Last Line: Myriads %of flagella flucksing rite SABA SABA First Line: Sound sets up music for the skeleton Last Line: Which breaks ships %to make them again on screaming waves SABA TAM FIOFORI First Line: Sea eaarth %sea above earth Last Line: Waves blue to sever %shake this sea til sources SABA: BLACK PALADINS First Line: We shall be riding dragons in those days Last Line: Cover screams with holy wings, in those days %we shall be terrible SABA: JOY First Line: Purchase two %eat one Last Line: And %give the other away SABA: SHADOW AND ACT First Line: A black shadow limped behind the blond king Last Line: Growing out of the darkness the black man counts %the stars,tightens his rope, and pulls them down SABA: THE LOST DIADEM First Line: Gold like buried lances from the sun Last Line: African sons flailing at history, digging %up our fathers and weeping for the rains SANCTUARY First Line: If I were an eye Last Line: Residing in the circles %of my eyes? SHABA (1) First Line: Trembling valleys making tongues of air Last Line: Trembling in your soulwind and %I will know the inhabitants of this sea SHABA (2) First Line: She was a fighter with shreds of flesh Last Line: And call her smile a song of war %she was a lone island SOMNUS (1.) First Line: A mask and a measure he wears Last Line: Wake me wake me %a flash of lotus oil he bears SOMNUS (2.) First Line: In my dreams I sleep Last Line: Break me break me %a mirage is the mask he wears SOMNUS (3.) First Line: Thru the window of dream Last Line: Before we sleep %before we dream SOMNUS (ALTERNATE VERSION 1.) First Line: Wild reeds hugged by the wind Last Line: Of the lotus %when must I take you? SOMNUS (ALTERNATE VERSION 2.) First Line: I have made demi-gods of the ages Last Line: Of the lotus %of the lotus, careful of the lotus SON OF MSIPPI Poem Text First Line: Up/from msippi I grew. Subject(s): Youth SON OF MSIPPI First Line: Up %from msippi I grew Last Line: Woman gone woe man too %baby cry rent-pause daddy flew SONG OF FLESH First Line: Wild stallions raced across the barren stretches Last Line: And drove the tiger fish back %into the sea of your heart SONGTHESIS First Line: At his ear a great pearl conch Last Line: I make %poems STANDIN TALL BLUES First Line: Now you say my shoes runover and my hair's long and nappy Last Line: And don't forget to tell him, %that we got that rhythm thing! SWEET WIND OF ROSE First Line: I press a rose into my face Last Line: Those hands %are shaping me TAKE THIS RIVER Poem Text First Line: We move up a spine of earth TAKE THIS RIVER! First Line: We move up a spine of earth Last Line: We do not cry, %and we do not stop TEMPLE AT ILHADAN First Line: The temple at ilhadan is filled today Last Line: There will be shouting and singing, %and the temple at ilhad an will be empty THE ZEBRA GOES WILD WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS Poem Text First Line: Neon stripes tighten my wal Subject(s): United States; Racism; Fathers; America; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THOUGHT (1.) First Line: Lord, how I wept when I came upon Last Line: Ocean between the color of my skin %and my humanity THOUGHT (2.) First Line: Love came to me and said Last Line: You would ask nothing %but would give THOUGHT (3.) First Line: One of the greatest roles Last Line: To play the role has been %the 'nigger.' THOUGHT (4.) First Line: First impressions tend to direct the path Last Line: That is why the black man and the white man %seldom meet THOUGHT (5.) First Line: I flew into the country of the mind Last Line: I fell. %thought sculptured me in stone THOUGHT (6.) First Line: You're lying,' said memory Last Line: You're asleep,' said forgetfulness THOUGHT (7.) First Line: Hate is also creative Last Line: It creates more hate TIS OF THEE First Line: You are oversized, you are overrated, you are overblown Last Line: I would come and cut you down TIS OF THEE (1.) First Line: You are oversized, you are overrated, you are overbown Last Line: And built too many empty churches. %you are fat with starch and lies TIS OF THEE (2.) First Line: You steeled cities range like malignant cancers across Last Line: You are an overkiller, oversexed, overripe, overotten TIS OF THEE (3.) First Line: You are a sinful old man who has no repentance Last Line: Few flowers grow from your gardens %and the snow and the ice shall be your grave TIS OF THEE (4.) First Line: You are a despiser of black and misunderstander of white Last Line: If you were a barren tree in my garden TO MEET THE LORD... First Line: To meet the lord of the forests Last Line: The people of the sun %the people of the sun TOO HOT TO HANDLE BLUES First Line: You can't touch me baby, I'm too hot for the hand Last Line: I keep you warm baby, I'm a burning coal %o its good baby UNCLE SAM UPTIGHT BLUES First Line: Well, baby if the man's uptight Last Line: He know the chinaman aint yellow %he heard somebody say the chinaman might be black VALENTINES Poem Text First Line: Forgive me if I have not sent you Last Line: I give that to you too Subject(s): Holidays; Valentine's Day VALENTINES First Line: Forgive me if I have not sent you Last Line: Heart goes %I give that to you too Subject(s): Holidays; Valentine's Day YAMS Poem Text First Line: I made a yamship for my belly with my spoon Subject(s): Yams YAMS First Line: I made a yamship for my belly with my spoon Last Line: And sweet riding jelly bread kept me til noon ZEBRA GOES WILD WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1.) First Line: Neon stripes tighten my wall Last Line: The needle of the nation %sucking his soul ZEBRA GOES WILD WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (2.) First Line: Chains of light race over Last Line: I see the shadow thieves coming %and my father on the specimen table |
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