poem

I look at you
with an open mind

uncluttered before me
you speak and there is closure

epigram

Arrogance is a mans view once done
which leads to a life of one

Curse

May you wake alone.

Team Poem

Valentine/message Poem

Things change after seven seasons
Time, direction, they dont even need a reason
Dont think its over, just because he said goodbye
Good things are yet to come, listen and Ill tell you why

Haiku "Squats"

Squats

Rep after rep after rep
years of preperation, time, training, still anxiety
rep after rep, still new

Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson

As I wrote before, my first exposure to college lit was in Engl 101 at West Valley College in Saratoga Ca. The entire class was built around Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renassance. I began to see the world of the Great Depression from Langston Hughes point of view. Hughes was well travled. He visited Africa and Europe. His socialist views gained him many critics but his writing really reaches across many social and economic boundaries of the time period. His poems Song For a Dark Girl( Page 1033 of our Lit book) and The Weary Blues(Page 1032) are two of the poems I wrote about.

Reading Emily Dickinson makes me wonder. How did a women who lived as a recluse write as if she has traveled the world? How did she become one of America's most famous poets when she rarely left her home? One thing Hughes and Dickinson do have in common is the fact they were writing from a lower social standing. Hughes being an African-American in the early 20th century was a struggle in itself. He was also a Socialist and a homosexual. Making life, as you can imagine, even more challenging. Dickinson was a women writing in the early to mid 19th century. Women were all but property at this time in America. She was not religious in a time when church politics still dominated the country(Some would say they still do!!) Perhaps these social challenges helped contribute to the passion of their poetry. I would appreciate any feedback on this. Thanks. Keith.