~PO3TRY~

My list of poetry author's consist of:
1. Nikki Giovanni
2. William Shakespeare
3. Langston Hughes
4. Gwendolyn Brooks
5. Cornelius Eady
6. And Lucille Clifton
7. Cyndi King
8. E E Cummings
9. Mya Angelou
10. Richard Allen

Nikki Giovanni was (to me) one of the greatest female poets of all time. I say this because not only was she a poet, she was a writer, commentator, activist, and educator. She is a self spoken woman and a wonderful leader whom which is not given enough credit. Most people fail to realize that there is more to her than just "poetry". My favorite was:

Balances

in life
one is always
balancing

like we juggle our mothers
against our fathers

or one teacher
against another
(only to balance our grade average)

3 grains of salt
to one ounce truth

our sweet black essence
or the funky honkies down the street

and lately i've begun wondering
if you're trying to tell me something

we used to talk all night
and do things alone together

and i've begun

(as a reaction to a feeling)
to balance the pleasure of
loneliness against the pain
of loving you

William Shakespeare is my all time favorite. I believe that he truly set the way for all of our poetry that we may create today. With his, sonnets, and plays, he was able to change the format of our entertainment. Even some of the words we use today came from this brilliant man (which Mr. B told us!) My favorite was:

From you have I been absent in the spring... (Sonnet 98)

From you have I been absent in the spring,When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in odor and in hue,Could make me any summer's story tell,Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;They were but sweet, but figures of delight,Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,As with your shadow I with these did play.

Langston Hughes was my favorite poet during the Early Adolescent years. Like Nikki and William, he was a writer as well how ever his poems delivered a different message to me as a child. He was always comparing things and feelings to inatament objects which I didn't really understand until I grew older and wiser. I admire him because it took a horrible death in his family to realize what true talent he had and for him to continue on, I respect that. My favorite was:


As I Grew Older

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,In front of me,
Bright like a sun--My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,Slowly,
Between me and my dream
.Rose until it touched the sky--The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!My dark hands!
Break through the wall!Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,To smash this night,
To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!