Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone. Molly is a teacher, and last week she shared a charming interaction she had at a Staples store with a boy who was soon to enter kindergarten. He expressed in an adorable way the excitement and uncertainty about this new beginning. The end of Summer is an exiting time of year for many.
This week I decided to participate in the Sealey challenge. I wanted to make a commitment that I could actually keep, and I pulled this book off my shelf: 100 Poems To Break Your Heart by Edward Hirsch.
As we all know, poems have layers of meaning. Hirsh has chosen 100 poems, great poems old and new, and in two or three pages tells us the history of the poem and the author’s craft. I am reading at least one a day. Today I read this poem written in 1927 by Langston Hughes, about a time many Americans want to forget: the Jim Crow era.
history:
SONG FOR A DARK GIRL
by Langston Hughes
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree.
This is a short poem, three quatrains. The language is direct but complex in terms of meaning. I’ll mention some of what I learned. First “Way Down South in Dixie” refers to a popular song from the segregated South. We all know this song. It was written to be song by someone in black face who, playing a slave, longs for a return to the South that is so dear to him. This is placed in contrast to the reality of lynching, in a place and time of cruelty that few black folks would long to return to. The song was propaganda..
Also in contrast are the phrases “black young lover”in the first stanza and “White lord Jesus,” in the second. What god, white or otherwise, worthy of worship would allow lynching to happen, and is this white god or the young black lover, more worthy of praise?
Anyone reading this poem will understand, if they didn’t quite before, why book banning and revision of history is taking place in America. Our true history, involving such crimes as slavery and lynching, and the hijacking of Christianity, are all true, facts to remember, as teachers and librarians understand.
I look forward to exploring more of the poems in this Hirsch’s book.
On a different note, more I can share this week. First, I have been trying out water color painting. It’s fun to try and I’ve found some books to get me started.
I love the painter Wayne Thiebaud, who painted cupcakes and gum ball machines among many other things. This spring I saw a Thiebaud exhibit at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. He wrote about being a thief, an artist stealing ideas from other artists. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I painted a donut as he might. In a book entitled, WATERCOLOR: Success in Four Steps, by Marina Bakasova, I found instructions on how to draw a donut.
It’s not hard to paint pastries or veggies, it just requires some patience. Faces and landscapes, well, that takes more study. Still it was fun sending this postcard to my sister.
I also happened upon and snapped a picture of a red tailed hawk this week, in a grassy area, enjoying a tasty catch.
I think I’ll try to draw him soon. Not sure about drawing feathers but will try. His tail was a deep and bright brick red. He was gorgeous and let me watch him for a while.
Red Tailed Hawk
Enjoy the rest of summer. Thank you Molly Hogan for hosting! Best wishes to all those returning to school classrooms and libraries soon..
Oh, Langston Hughes does break my heart. He’s so good — he targets the most terrible things, terrible moments, and pulls us in there with him, to witness it all. Not afraid to make us look, confront, and acknowledge the horror. Thanks for sharing this one, Janice. Hirsch’s book has been on my wish list for a while. I need to just get it already! 🙂
And thanks, too, for the glimpses of whimsy and beauty — your delightful donut! Your red-tailed hawk! Lovely.
I’m doing a one-book Sealey Challenge, too!
There is so much about America these days that is breaking my heart, but the erasures (history, truth, humanity of all people, science, etc etc etc ad nauseam) are the worst. Thank you for sharing Langston Hughes’ poem. Heart breaking indeed.
But thank you also for balancing your post with that yummy donut painting and the gorgeous hawk!
Yes, indeed, that Langston Hughes poem did break my heart. Thank you for sharing it, though. It’s one I didn’t know, and definitely an important one. Your donut made me hungry! Good enough to eat.
What a fabulously delish donut you painted Janice, and Wayne Thiebauld is a favorite artist of mine too! All the best with painting the red tailed hawk, great pic you have too. Thanks for sharing Hughes’ poem, hard to believe we are moving backward instead of forward and trying to erase history, leaves one feeling empty in regards to humanity…
I don’t know if I’m ready to paint that hawk yet. Now that I’ve tried, I can look at your paintings and appreciate how skillful you are. Yes, Wayne Thiebauld’s work is incredible. He must have been a great teacher.
That is a poem to break the heart. Thank you for sharing it. How can anyone imagine we can move forward as a nation without acknowledging our past or even worse, by erasing it? These are hard times. I’m glad you are finding joy in watercolors (love that donut postcard and your adventurous, creative spirit!) and red-tailed hawks. I had a broad-winged hawk visit while I was walking this week. Thank goodness there are wonders to offset the horrors.
Janice, your donut is delish!! Thanks for the book rec. xo
I recently published a book that brings out the harsh reality of lynching. Langston Hughes could do so with such a small poem. I often turned to Langston Hughes when teaching poetry because it was all so accessible. I appreciate that you are delving into watercolor. What a delicious donut! Your post was inspiring. I want to try painting birds on watercolor cards.
Thanks, Margaret . You should try watercolors. I think you would like it. Check out Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles. She has a lot of cool sketches of funny little backyard birds.
Your doughnut is awesome! And that Langston Hughes poem–wow. What a heart-wrenching one. I love that people are going through big books of collections for The Sealey Challenge. Such a great idea.
Janice, thank you for your heartbreaking analysis of Hughes’ poem. What a great Sealey challenge you have given yourself. Thank you for sharing this poem and the book. I’m going to look for that one. The donut is amazing. Did you do that shiny glaze with watercolor? So perfect. It makes my mouth water.
There is a stark honesty in Langston Hughes’ poem. He exemplifies the idea that even in a short poem the gravitas each word carries can be powerful. Thank you, Janice for shaking my consciousness.
Thanks for sharing your day’s Sealey poem…gut punch! Your watercolored donut is divine! I’m going to pass along the lessons you mentioned to my sister who is learning watercolor now that she is retired. Can’t wait to see your hawk!
Janice, Hughes’ poem is filled with sorrow during a shameful time of American history. I never read it before so thank you for sharing it. Your artsy work, watercoloring and photography bring beauty to you post. I hope your falcon finds a worthy space on your watercolor table. It is a gorgeous bird.