By Flapper Press Poetry Café:
The Flapper Press Poetry Café continues a new series of articles about favorite lines of poetry and the poets who wrote them. We’re reaching out to poets, writers, and lovers of poetry to submit their favorite lines of poetry and tell us why you love them.
Check out our submission guidelines and send us your favorites!
We'll feature your submission sometime this year on our site!
This week, our submission comes from Flapper Press contributor Jennifer Guyor Jowett.
Langston Hughes
Jennifer Guyor Jowett writes:
Hughes’s writing speaks to me, its rhythm sounds within my soul, its strength is America’s strength, the words sing in lullabies and dreams.
My favorite lines from Langston Hughes:
- "Let the rain kiss you / Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops / Let the rain sing you a lullaby."
- "I dream a world . . . / Where love will bless the earth"
- "Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed"
Langston Hughes’s writing sings with lyrical yearning and achievement. The hustle of Harlem and the rhythm of the world created in his words celebrate both promise and hope. His diverse background (a descendant of a grandfather who was a Jewish slave trader and enslaved grandmothers, one of whom was part Native American) and his variety of work (cook, elevator operator, laundry hand, busboy, journalist) helps his work sing America.
Read the poetry of Langston Hughes.
Jennifer Guyor Jowett is the author of Into the Shadows, a historical fiction that captures the real-life events of a young girl caught between surrounding armies and conflicting causes as she tries to keep her family safe. She is the creator of the Dog Eared Book Award, which celebrates a middle grade or young adult novel chosen by middle-grade students each year. She teaches seventh graders, helping them find their voice and write their words in the mitten state. You can find out more about this work here.