In memory of Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Can poetry be prophecy? We should hope so...
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
--Langston Hughes
(Thanks to Tristesse at firedoglake.com for the quote)
posted by Dale @ 7:13 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I also hope the poem is prophecy. Did he write it during the turmoil of the sixties?
Asa Faith: I was guessing the sixties too, but it turns out that Hughes' poem "Let America Be America Again" was published in 1938...after the Great Depression, just before World War II. It's one of those themes that endures.
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