Lincoln
Theatre
Langston
Hughes
The
head of Lincoln looks down from the wall
While
movies echo dramas on the screen.
The
head of Lincoln is serenely tall
Above
a crowd of black folk, humble, mean.
The
movies end. The lights flash gaily on.
The
band down in the pit bursts into jazz.
The
crowd applauds a plump brown-skinned bleached blonde
Who
sings the troubles every woman has.
She
snaps her fingers, slowly shakes her hips,
And
cries, all careless-like from reddened lips!
De
man I love has
Gone
and done me wrong
While
girls who wash rich white folks clothes by day
And
sleek-haired boys who deal in love for pay
Press
hands together, laughing at her song.
I read this beautiful poem this cold and dark morning and wanted to share it, but there's no complete version of it online, so I thought I'd rectify that.
(The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, ed. Arnold Rampersad, Vintage Classics, 1995, 360)
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