American Poetry Museum

apoetreflects:

A poem is read by the poet, who then becomes
That poem himself
For a little while,
                         caught in its glistening tentacles.
The waters of deep remembering
Wash over him, clouds build up
As do the shadowy pools
                                     under the evergreens.
Later, the winds of forgetfulness
Blow in from a thousand miles away
And the poet starts to write.
This is the way the day moves,
                                             and the sparks from its wheels.

—Charles Wright, from “Buffalo Yoga” in Buffalo Yoga (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004)

Reblogged 5 months ago from apoetreflects 40 notes
auntada: The Warren family pose on their front porch in Fort Worth, Texas. L to R, top, William, a Pullman porter, his wife Carrie and children, Alma, Alton, Elnora.  ca. 1930 Fort Worth, Texas Shades of L.A.: African American Community Shortly after the Civil War, the Pullman Company hired African-American men to staff its Pullman sleeping cars. These men became known and widely respected as Pullman porters. While the pay was low and porters often suffered abuse from racist passengers, being a Pullman porter was once considered one of the best jobs a black man could obtain. Over the 100 years they served the railroads, Pullman Porters contributed to the development of the black middle class in America, established the first African American labor organization and played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. Notable Pullman Porters include A. Philip Randolph, Matthew Henson, Claude McKay, Benjamin Mays, Oscar Micheaux and Gordon Parks. View Larger

auntada:

The Warren family pose on their front porch in Fort Worth, Texas. L to R, top, William, a Pullman porter, his wife Carrie and children, Alma, Alton, Elnora. 

ca. 1930

Fort Worth, Texas

Shades of L.A.: African American Community

Shortly after the Civil War, the Pullman Company hired African-American men to staff its Pullman sleeping cars. These men became known and widely respected as Pullman porters. While the pay was low and porters often suffered abuse from racist passengers, being a Pullman porter was once considered one of the best jobs a black man could obtain. Over the 100 years they served the railroads, Pullman Porters contributed to the development of the black middle class in America, established the first African American labor organization and played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Notable Pullman Porters include A. Philip Randolph, Matthew Henson, Claude McKay, Benjamin Mays, Oscar Micheaux and Gordon Parks.

Reblogged 5 months ago from auntada 113 notes

Song for Billie Holiday

What can purge my heart
       Of the song
       And the sadnes?
What can purge my heart
       But the song
       Of the sadness?
What can purge my heart
       Of the sadness
       Of the song?

Do not speak of sorrow
With dust in her hair,
Or bits of dust in eyes
A chance of wind blows there.
The sorrow that I speak of
I dusted with despair

Voice of muted trumpet,
Cold brass in warm air
Bitter television blurred
By sound that shimmers― 
        Where?

~Langston Hughes 

Reblogged 5 months ago from cassavetesclique-deactivated877 9 notes
womenwhokickass: (12# Australia) Oodgeroo Noonuccal: Why she kicks ass She was an Australian poet, political activist, artist, educator,and a campaigner for Aboriginal rights. She was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. She was Queensland state secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), and was involved in a number of other political organisations.  She was a key figure in the campaign for the reform of the Australian constitution to allow Aboriginal people full citizenship, lobbying Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1965, and his successor Harold Holt in 1966. At one deputation in 1963, she taught Robert Menzies a lesson in the realities of Aboriginal life. After offering the deputation an alcoholic drink, he was startled to learn that in Queensland he could be jailed for doing the same thing. She wrote many books, beginning with We Are Going (1964), the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman. This was extraordinarily successful, selling out in several editions, and setting Oodgeroo well on the way to be Australia’s highest-selling poet alongside C. J. Dennis. In 1972 she bought a property on North Stradbroke Island (also known as Minjerribah) which she called Moongalba (‘sitting-down place’), and established the Noonuccal-Nughie Education and Cultural Centre. Oodgeroo won several literary awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (1970), the Jessie Litchfield Award (1975), and the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Award.She was awarded an MBE in 1970, returning it in 1987 to protest the Australian Bicentenary celebrations, and to make a political statement at the condition of her people. In 1974, she was aboard a British Airways flight that was hijacked by militants campaigning for Palestinian liberation. The hijackers shot a crew member and a passenger and forced the plane to fly to several different African destinations. During her three days in captivity, she used a blunt pencil and an airline sickbag from the seat pocket to write two poems, ‘Commonplace’ and ‘Yusuf (Hijacker)’.

womenwhokickass:

(12# Australia) Oodgeroo Noonuccal: Why she kicks ass

  • She was an Australian poet, political activist, artist, educator,and a campaigner for Aboriginal rights. She was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse.
  • She was Queensland state secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), and was involved in a number of other political organisations.
  •  She was a key figure in the campaign for the reform of the Australian constitution to allow Aboriginal people full citizenship, lobbying Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1965, and his successor Harold Holt in 1966.
  • At one deputation in 1963, she taught Robert Menzies a lesson in the realities of Aboriginal life. After offering the deputation an alcoholic drink, he was startled to learn that in Queensland he could be jailed for doing the same thing.
  • She wrote many books, beginning with We Are Going (1964), the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman. This was extraordinarily successful, selling out in several editions, and setting Oodgeroo well on the way to be Australia’s highest-selling poet alongside C. J. Dennis.
  • In 1972 she bought a property on North Stradbroke Island (also known as Minjerribah) which she called Moongalba (‘sitting-down place’), and established the Noonuccal-Nughie Education and Cultural Centre.
  • Oodgeroo won several literary awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (1970), the Jessie Litchfield Award (1975), and the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Award.She was awarded an MBE in 1970, returning it in 1987 to protest the Australian Bicentenary celebrations, and to make a political statement at the condition of her people.
  • In 1974, she was aboard a British Airways flight that was hijacked by militants campaigning for Palestinian liberation. The hijackers shot a crew member and a passenger and forced the plane to fly to several different African destinations. During her three days in captivity, she used a blunt pencil and an airline sickbag from the seat pocket to write two poems, ‘Commonplace’ and ‘Yusuf (Hijacker)’.
Reblogged 5 months ago from writeaction (Originally from womenwhokickass) 86 notes

Before dawn, across the whole road
as I pass I feel spiderwebs.

Within people’s voices, under their words or
woven into the pauses, I hear a hidden sound.

One thin green light flashes over a smooth sea
just as the sun goes down.

What roses lie on the altar of evening
I inhale carefully, to keep more of.

Tasting all these and letting them have
their ways to waken me, I shiver and resolve:

In my life, I will more than live.

—

William Stafford, “Reminders” (via litverve)

Beauty.

(via readingthedistrict)

Reblogged 5 months ago from theatrecollage (Originally from litverve) 173 notes