#AmericanWriters
You sicken me with lies, With truthful lies. And with your pious faces. And your wide, out—stretched, mock—welcome, Christian hands.
I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
The gold moth did not love him So, gorgeous, she flew away. But the gray moth circled the flam… Until the break of day. And then, with wings like a dead d…
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear. I have as much right
How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water
2 and 2 are 4. 4 and 4 are 8. But what would happen If the last 4 was late? And how would it be
My name is Johnson— Madam Alberta K. The Madam stands for business. I’m smart that way. I had a
When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left
been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done
The ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond and jade, Sit silently on their temple shelv… While the people
'Me an’ ma baby’s Got two mo’ ways, Two mo’ ways to do de Charleston!… Da, da, Da, da, da!
The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun.
I was so sick last night I Didn’t hardly know my mind. So sick last night I Didn’t know my mind. I drunk some bad licker that
Goin’ down the road, Lawd, Goin’ down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody