Tuesday, August 28, 2012

25 poems by or about black men

...and over in the course I teach for first-year black men, we'll read 50 poems during the course of the semester by or about black men. Several of the poems will touch on the idea of "bad man" tales in poetry. It ought to be interesting.

[Related: Bad Men as Muses for Black Poets]

The first half of the semester, between now and mid-October, we'll concentrate on the following 25 poems:

• "The RhythmBlues" by Amiri Baraka
• "The Aesthetic" by Amiri Baraka
• "Monday in B-Flat" by Amiri Baraka
• "In the Funk World" by Amiri Baraka 
• "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks
• "wishes for sons" by Lucille Clifton
• "I Laugh Talk Joke" by Henry Dumas
• "White Glove Test" by Vievee Francis
• "Drummer Boy" by Vievee Francis
• "Frederick Douglass" by Robert Hayden
• "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden
• "The Whipping" by Robert Hayden
• "I, Too" by Langston Hughes
•  "Bad Man" by Langston Hughes 
• "Po' Boy Blues" by Langston Hughes
• "Frederick Douglass: 1817-1895" by Langston Hughes 
• "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem" By Helene Johnson
• "It Was a Funky Deal" by Etheridge Knight
• "I Sing of Shine" by Etheridge Knight 
• "Hard Rock Returns to Prison From  the Hospital for the Criminal Insane" by Etheridge Knight   
• "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay
• "Poppa Stoppa Speaks from His Grave" by Larry Neal
• "Frederick Douglass and the Slave Breaker" by Dudley Randall
• "Flight to Canada" by Ishmael Reed 
• "Bad-Man Stagolee" by Margaret Walker 

Related:
25 poems by or about black women 
100-plus Poems I Read & Re-Read (online) in 2011
25 Poems We've Already Read  

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