DevotionReader Poetry Series: 30 Ways of Looking at Black Poetry
Let the circle be unbroken" - Theme for Week #1,
April 1 thru April 7
Black poets have fulfilled the role of griot – recording stories of our families, and preserving our diverse national identities as Black people throughout the U.S., Caribbean and South America. Here are selected stanzas from James Weldon Johnson’s poem, “O Black and Unknown Bards,” and, "Listen Children," a poem by Lucille Clifton that represents the important role of the griot in recording the cultural attitudes of African descendants.
Poem post #2 for 4/2/2010
Listen Children - Lucille Clifton
Lucille Clifton from Good News About the Earth, 1970
Devotionreader.com 30 Days of Looking at Black Poetry -- Day: One O Black and Unknown Bards Two Listen Children Three For the Record Four Ballad of Birmingham Five Six The Idea of Ancestry Seven I Want to Write Eight A Grandfather Poem Nine Sweet Sound Ten My Brother is Homemade Eleven Those Winter Sundays Twelve SOS Thirteen Resurrections Fourteen Jessie Mitchell's Mother Fifteen April Rain Song Sixteen I've Got A Home in that Rock Seventeen Earth Screaming Eighteen Returning Spring Nineteen Newark, for Now [68] Twenty Dawn Twenty-One Fir Twenty-Two Comin Strong Twenty-Three From a Black Feminists Conference Reflections on Margaret Walker: Poet Twenty-Four My Africa Twenty-Five Strong Men Twenty-Six Today's News Twenty-Seven My Guilt Twenty-Eight Forward, Always Forward Twenty-Nine The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa Thirty What Harriet Said
