Before all that there’s luncheon to be known.
Lasagna, lobster salad, sandwiches.
All day there’s coffee to be loved.
There are luxuries
of minor dissatisfaction, luxuries of Plan.
3.
That’s her story,
You’re going to vanish, not necessarily nicely, fairly soon,
Although essentially dignity itself a death
is not necessarily tidy, modest or discreet.
When they find you
your legs may not be tidy nor aligned.
Your mouth may be all crooked or destroyed.
Black old woman, homeless, indistinct—
Your last and least adventure is Review.
Folks used to celebrate your birthday!
Folks used to say “She’s such a pretty little thing!”
Folks used to say “She draws such handsome horses, cows and houses,”
Folks used to say “That child is going far.”
September, 1992.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
NOTE ON THE TEXTS
NOTES
INDEX OF TITLES & FIRST LINES
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, on June 7, 1917. She was raised in Chicago, where her parents—Keziah Corinne Wims Brooks, a teacher, and David Anderson Brooks, a janitor—had moved while she was an infant. She graduated from Englewood High School in 1934, and from Wilson Junior College, where she majored in English literature, in 1936. While pursuing her studies, she became a regular contributor of poetry and prose to “Lights and Shadows,” a column in the weekly Chicago Defender. She hoped unsuccessfully to join the Defender staff as a reporter, working instead at a number of odd jobs and eventually as publicity director for the NAACP Youth Council. She married Henry L. Blakely, a writer, in 1939, and had a son, Henry, in 1940 (her daughter, Nora, was born in 1951). In the early 1940s, she began to publish poetry in national magazines such as Harper’s, Poetry, and the Saturday Review of Literature; her first book, A Street in Bronzeville, appeared in 1945. She was awarded Guggenheim fellowships in 1946 and 1947. Her second collection of poetry, Annie Allen (1949), won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her first and only novel, Maud Martha (1953), was followed by Bronzeville Girls and Boys (1956), The Bean Eaters (1960), and Selected Poems (1963). She began a career as a professor of poetry in 1963, at Columbia College in Chicago, and later taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the City College of New York, Northeastern Illinois University, and Chicago State University. In 1968, after the death of Carl Sandburg, she was named poet laureate of Illinois. Her later poetry collections include In the Mecca (1968), Riot (1969), Family Pictures (1970), Beckonings (1975), Primer for Blacks (1980), The Near-Johannesburg Boy (1986), Gottschalk and the Grand Tarantelle (1988), and Children Coming Home (1991); she also edited a number of books, including Jump Bad: A New Chicago Anthology (1971), and wrote two volumes of autobiography: Report from Part One (1972) and Report from Part Two (1996). In 1985–86, she served as Consultant in Poetry, the unofficial poet laureate, at the Library of Congress; in 1995 she won the National Medal of Arts. She died of cancer on December 3, 2000, at her home in Chicago.
NOTE ON THE TEXTS
The poems in this volume are presented in the order in which they first appeared in one of Gwendolyn Brooks’s books; some had been published earlier in periodical form, and some were republished—without revision, generally—in one or more collections of her poetry. The texts have been taken from the first printings, listed below:
A Street in Bronzeville. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945.
Annie Allen. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.
The Bean Eaters. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960.
Selected Poems. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
In the Mecca. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Riot. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969.
Family Pictures. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1970.
Beckonings. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1975.
Primer for Blacks. Chicago: Brooks Press, 1980.
The Near-Johannesburg Boy, and Other Poems. Chicago: The David Company, 1986.
Children Coming Home. Chicago: The David Company, 1991.
In Montgomery, and Other Poems. Chicago: Third World Press, 2003.
The texts of the original printings chosen for inclusion here are presented without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features and are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. Two errors have been corrected: 10.16, inclination.); 108.26, Well—.
NOTES
16.10 Dorie Miller] Dorie Miller (1919-1943), who served as ship’s cook, third class, on the battleship West Virginia, was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was killed in the sinking of the escort carrier Liscome Bay in the Gilbert Islands.
35.5–7 “pygmies . . . YOUNG] From Young’s Night Thoughts (1742–46): “Pygmies are pygmies still, though percht on Alps; / And pyramids are pyramids in vales. / Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. / Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids; / Her monuments shall last when Egypt’s fall.”
68.2 Emmett Till] Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago, was beaten and shot to death in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, on August 28, 1955, after he allegedly whistled at a white woman; the two white men charged with the crime were acquitted on September 23.
90.9 Dudley Randall] Poet (b. 1914) and founder of Broadside Press.
92.7 Edward Christmas] Chicago-based flutist and composer.
93.2 Phil Cohran] Chicago-based trumpeter and composer who played with the Sun Ra Arkestra in the late 1950s and was a founder of the AACM.
94.5 Blackstone Rangers] Chicago street gang founded in the early 1960s; it established branches in other cities and was later known variously as the Black P. Stone Nation and El Rukns.
97.4 RON KARENGA] Black nationalist organizer (b. 1941) who founded the group US in the 1960s.
98.2 Walter Bradford] Writer associated with the Chicago group Organization of Black American Culture, founded in 1967.
100.21 “Que tu es grossier!”] “How crude you are!”
102.21–22 Melvin Van Peebles . . . Lillie . . . Zampoughi] “Lilly Done the Zampoughi Every Time I Pulled Her Coattail,” song by Melvin Van Peebles from his theatrical work Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1971).
103.6 Young-Holt] Young-Holt Unlimited, a Chicago-based instrumental group founded by members of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, had a number of hit records including “Wack Wack” (1967) and “Soulful Strut” (1968).
116.2 Al Green] Soul singer who enjoyed great success beginning in the early 1970s; his records included “I’m Still in Love with You” and “Let’s Stay Together.”
121.14 Farrah’s hair] Farrah Fawcett (b. 1947), sometimes known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, star of the television series Charlie’s Angels in its first season, 1976–77, was known for her elaborate and widely imitated hairstyle.
INDEX OF TITLES AND FIRST LINES
A | B | C | D
E | F | G | H | I | J | K
L | M | N | O | P | R | S
T | U | V | W | Y
A day of sunny face and temper, 86
A long marriage makes shorthand possible, 124
Abortions will not let you forget, 2
Abruptly, 131
According to my Teachers, 128
After the baths and bowel-work, he was dead, 31
And several strengths from drowsiness campaigned, 97
And still we wear our uniforms, follow, 27
—And when you have forgotten the bright bedclothes on a Wednesday and a Saturday, 7
Anniad, The, 36
Appendix to The Anniad (leaves from a loose-leaf war diary), 41
arrive. The Ladies from the Ladies’ Betterment League, 11
ballad of chocolate Mabbie,
the, 5
Ballad of Pearl May Lee, 18
Ballad of Rudolph Reed, The, 79
ballad of the late Annie, the, 32
Bean Eaters, The, 60
Being you, you cut your poetry from wood, 82
Bessie of Bronzeville Visits Mary and Norman at a Beach-house in New Buffalo, 18
Beverly Hills, Chicago, 54
Big Bessie throws her son into the street, 86
birth in a narrow room, the, 28
Blackness, 118
Blackstone Rangers, The, 94
Boy Breaking Glass, 88
Boy Died in My Alley, The, 114
Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi, A, 61
Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat, 75
But can see better there, and laughing there, 35
Carried her unprotesting out the door, 52
Catch of Shy Fish, A, 83
Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock, The, 68
Chicken, she chided early, should not wait, 30
children of the poor, the, 49
Clogged and soft and sloppy eyes, 30
Coora Flower, The, 126
Crazy Woman, The, 74
“Do not be afraid of no, 34
“do not be afraid of no”, 34
downtown vaudeville, 32
Each body has its art, its precious prescribed, 23
Egg Boiler, The, 82
Elegy in a Rainbow, 117
Emmett’s mother is a pretty-faced thing, 68
Everybody here, 125
For I am rightful fellow of their band, 25
From the first it had been like a, 61
garbageman: the man with the orderly mind, 83
gay chaps at the bar, 23
God is a gorilla, 131
He was born in Alabama, 9
hunchback girl: she thinks of heaven, 3
I Am A Black, 128
I had to kick their law into their teeth in order to save them, 16
I hold my honey and I store my bread, 24
I like to see you lean back in your chair, 112
I love those little booths at Benvenuti’s, 52
I shall not sing a May song, 74
I think it must be lonely to be God, 6
I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life, 4
In Little Rock the people bear, 68
Inamoratas, with an approbation, 10
Infirm, 125
It was Mabbie without the grammar school gates, 5
John Cabot, out of Wilma, once a Wycliffe, 100
kitchenette building, 1
Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till, The, 68
Late Annie in her bower lay, 32
Let it be alleys. Let it be a hall, 75
Life of Lincoln West, The, 106
looking, 25
love note / I: surely, 26
Lovely Love, A, 75
Lovers of the Poor, The, 71
Malcolm X, 90
Maud went to college, 6
Maxie Allen always taught her, 29
Maxie Allen, 29
Medgar Evers, 89
mentors, 25
mother, the, 2
Mrs. Coley’s three-flat brick, 10
my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell, 24
My Father, it is surely a blue place, 3
My last defense, 61
my own sweet good, 35
My uncle likes me too much, 129
My way is from woe to wonder, 122
Near-Johannesburg Boy, The, 122
Negro Hero, 16
Nineteen Cows in a Slow Line Walking, 127
“Not needing, really, my own sweet good, 35
Notes from the Childhood and Girlhood, 28
of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery, 9
Old Black Woman, Homeless, and Indistinct, An, 132
Old Mary, 61
old people working (garden, car), 84
Old people working. Making a gift of garden, 84
old relative, 31
old tennis player, 85
Omega ran to witness him; beseeched, 85
Original, 90
parents: people like our marriage (Maxie and Andrew), the, 30
Paul Robeson, 113
People who have no children can be hard, 49
preacher: ruminates behind the sermon, the, 6
Primer for Blacks, 118
progress, the, 27
“pygmies are pygmies still, though percht on Alps”, 35
Refuses, 85
Riot, 100
rites for cousin Vit, the, 52
Rudolph Reed was oaken, 79
Sadie and Maud, 6
Second Sermon on the Warpland, The, 98
(Seigi Ozawa leads the Symphony, 91
Sermon on the Warpland, The, 97
Shorthand Possible, 124
sick man looks at flowers, 84
Sisters!, 120
song in the front yard, a, 4
Spaulding and François, 86
Steam Song, 116
still do I keep my look, my identity . . ., 23
Strong Men, Riding Horses, 59
Strong Men, riding horses. In the West, 59
Sunday chicken, 30
Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith, The, 10
Surely you stay my certain own, you stay, 26
surrealist and Omega, a, 85
That Song it sing the sweetness, 116
That time, 113
The Boy died in my alley, 114
The dry brown coughing beneath their feet, 54
The duck fats rot in the roasting pan, 33
The earth is a beautiful place, 101
The man whose height his fear improved he, 89
Then off they took you, off to the jail, 18
There are cloudlets and things of cool silver in our dream, there are all of the Things Ethereal, 86
There they are, 94
They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair, 60
They get to Benvenuti’s. There are booths, 52
They had supposed their formula was fixed, 26
They never had one in the house before, 75
Think of sweet and chocolate, 36
Third Sermon on the Warpland, The, 101
This is the urgency: Live!, 98
throwing out the flowers, 33
To Don at Salaam, 112
To Those of My Sisters Who Kept Their Naturals, 120
Today I learned the coora flower, 126
Two Dedications, 91
Ugliest little boy, 106
Uncle Seagram, 129
vacant lot, the, 10
We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan, 1
We knew how to order. Just the dash, 23
We Real Cool, 60
We real cool. We, 60
weaponed woman, 84
Weeps out of western country something new, 28
Well, life has been a baffled vehicle, 84
What do you think of us in fuzzy endeavor, you whose directions are sterling, whose lunge is straight?, 83
What was not pleasant was the hush that coughed, 32
When I was a little girl, 117
When I was five years old, 127
when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story, 7
white troops had their orders but the Negroes looked like men, the, 26
Whose broken window is a cry of art, 88
You are sick and old, and there is a closing in, 84
You have no word for soldiers to enjoy, 25
You need untranslatable ice to watch, 47
You said, “Now take your shoes off,” while what played, 78
Your every day is a pilgrimage, 132
ABOUT THIS SERIES
The American Poets Project offers, for the first time in our history, a compact national library of American poetry. Selected and introduced by distinguished poets and scholars, elegant in design and textually authoritative, the series makes widely available the fu
ll scope of our poetic heritage.
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AMERICAN POETS PROJECT
1. EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY / J. D. McClatchy, editor
2. POETS OF WORLD WAR II / Harvey Shapiro, editor
3. KARL SHAPIRO / John Updike, editor
4. WALT WHITMAN / Harold Bloom, editor
5. EDGAR ALLAN POE / Richard Wilbur, editor
6. YVOR WINTERS / Thom Gunn, editor
7. AMERICAN WITS / John Hollander, editor
8. KENNETH FEARING / Robert Polito, editor
9. MURIEL RUKEYSER / Adrienne Rich, editor
10. JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER / Brenda Wineapple, editor
11. JOHN BERRYMAN / Kevin Young, editor
12. AMY LOWELL / Honor Moore, editor
13. WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS / Robert Pinsky, editor
14. POETS OF THE CIVIL WAR / J. D. McClatchy, editor
15. THEODORE ROETHKE / Edward Hirsch, editor
16. EMMA LAZARUS / John Hollander, editor
The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks Page 11