am not black, I am white, but I keep a book of his collected works near me at all times, like Walt Whitman said, "just keeping me in your breast pocket so that I can feel you" would be enough. Langston Hughes shows me what I could have never known and makes me see the unalterable truth of the experience so that even never having lived it I still cannot forget it. This is the essence of the master poet saying to the white man and all men and women, "See, this was real. Know that I not only survived, but I flourished. See my strength and courage, take heart because like you I am human." This is a man for the ages, across all of time and space. I honor him.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 23:18:37 +0000