Black History Month Poems - Page 2

Harlem
- By Langston Hughes
Famous Poem

We all dream of what we want to experience in life, but what happens when those dreams are put on hold or ignored? That’s what Langston Hughes attempts to answer in this poem. None of the possibilities are positive, making the reader realize the importance of pursuing dreams. Langston Hughes was a key contributor during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. He wrote many poems about what life was like for African Americans.

in Famous Poems

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?
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A wonderful poem by Langston Hughes, some dreams drift off with the morning mist, others come through if one persists..... A dream differed is a dream put on hold until the time comes for...

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Miss Rosie
- By Lucille Clifton
Famous Poem

Lucille Clifton was an American poet who lived from 1936-2010. Many of her poems show a theme of having strength through adversity. In this poem, a passerby finds Miss Rosie along the street, and she hurls insult after insult at the homeless lady. But this old lady used to be the most beautiful lady in all of Georgia. The last line of the poem changes the tone that was used at the beginning.

in Famous Sad Poems

when I watch you
wrapped up like garbage
sitting, surrounded by the smell
of too old potato peels

when I watch you
wrapped up like garbage
sitting, surrounded by the smell
of too old potato peels
or
when I watch you
in your old man's shoes
with the little toe cut out
sitting, waiting for your mind
like next week's grocery
I say
when I watch you
you wet brown bag of a woman
who used to be the best looking gal in Georgia
used to be called the Georgia Rose
I stand up
through your destruction
I stand up
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Victim Of Poverty
- By Tommy B
- Published by Family Friend Poems January 2009 with permission of the Author.
This is a look into what goes on in the mind of someone who is stuck in the hood and how they fall into a rut that feels impossible to get out of.

From Dreams To Drugs Poem: A Journey Through Poverty

in Poems about Sadness

Poverty stricken youth jus trying to make a buck
mom working two jobs and pops don't give a f**k

daddy never comes around

Poverty stricken youth jus trying to make a buck
mom working two jobs and pops don't give a f**k

daddy never comes around
at night the only sound

that can be heard are the sounds of the ghetto
drug dealing, gang banging the sirens of the po po

he finds himself posted on the corner slangin dope
to him it seems like the only hope

to finally get off the block or stay at a dead end job with no raise
so on the corner he stays

high school dropout with no time for class
time at a desk could be spent in the spot making cash

scarface dreams are clouding up his mind
cocaine sales taking up his time

greed has polluted his brain, spirit, and soul
hatred and a heart as black as coal

have takin over him what is he to do
no one gives him an answer looking for a clue

looking to the sky for some kind of sign
all he can see is a life full of crime

until the day the cops get him or his enemies catch him in the wrong hood
wearin the wrong colors, throwin up the wrong signs if he could

change things he'd do anything for a second chance
times up he has a dance

with the devil that's going to last an eternity
another soul lost, but others see it as another victim of poverty.
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Homage To My Hips
- By Lucille Clifton
Famous Poem

Lucille Clifton was an American poet who lived from 1936-2010. Her poetry celebrates her African American heritage and usually includes feminist themes, which can be seen in this poem. In "Homage to My Hips," she shows she is proud of who she is. She won’t conform to expectations or be held back. That can even be seen in how she chooses not to capitalize the first letter of a new line.

in Famous Inspirational Poems

these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little

these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!
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Work what you've got and be proud of it. Someone else probably wishes they had what you've got.

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Theme For English B
- By Langston Hughes
Famous Poem

This poem, published in 1949, is told from the perspective of a young black student who, through a class assignment, takes a look at how he relates and doesn’t relate to his white professor. He is searching for how his experiences can compare to those of his white classmates. However, it goes beyond the issue of race. Any human who has struggled with identity can connect with this poem written by an influential leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

in Famous Poems

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.
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This poem!! I felt a tug in my heart because it was truly a story of truth from your heart! Very well expressed, and I can't say but one thing more. If we keep our ears open we learn from...

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21 - 25 of 25

Black History Month Poems - Page 2

Harlem

Miss Rosie

Victim Of Poverty

This is a look into what goes on in the mind of someone who is stuck in the hood and how they fall into a rut that feels impossible to get out of.

Homage To My Hips

Theme For English B