Tension

I enjoyed the simplicity of Langston Hughes writing. This style is the style of poetry I am most familiar with, and it was pleasant to read something familiar this week. There were two poems of Langston Hughes’ that intrigued me the most: “Ballad of Roosevelt” and “Mulatto.” The thing that struck me the most about “Ballad of Roosevelt” was the consistency of each stanza. Hughes writes:

The pot was empty,

The cupboard was bare.

I said, Papa,

What’s the matter here?

I’m waitin’ on Roosevelt, son.

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

Waitin’ on Roosevelt, son.

The rent was due

And the lights was out.

I said, Tell me, Mama,

What’s it all about?

We’re waitin’ on Roosevelt, son,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

Just waitin’ on Roosevelt.

Throughout Hughes’s entire poem, even though a sad reality, we see this poor family constantly “waitin’ on Roosevelt.” Each stanza reveals continuous emptiness, continuous anxiety, continuous loss, continuous hunger, and pain. This family waits on Roosevelt’s action to save them from the poverty they live in, but unfortunately we never see Roosevelt come through. It seems as if the speaker of the poem is a small child, which brings a different, and difficult sadness to the poem. The poem reveals false hope and disappointment, but each stanza is consistent in form and the last two/three lines always consist of “Roosevelt, Roosevelt,” “Waitin’ on Roosevelt, son,” etc. I wish I had better context of this poem because I feel as if I cannot fully understand Hughes’ poem without better understanding the time period. Obviously, this family was unhappy with President Roosevelt. This made me wonder, is this family the voice of many impoverished families at this time? Why was Roosevelt not helping them? Did they put themselves in this situation of poverty? Were they neglected rejects of society? I can understand the basic idea of the poem, but I would like to uncover the context.

“where you are planted” by Evie Shockley holds a nice contrast to Langston Hughes’ “Ballad of Roosevelt.” Shockley’s poem has some dialogue between child and parent similar to Hughes’ poem, but the contrast here is the fullness and flourishing of Shockley’s poem compared with the emptiness and disappointment of Hughes’ “Ballad of Roosevelt.” Shockley’s poem paints a robust picture of the different seasons in the south. Shockley writes:

he’s as high as a georgia pine, my father’d say, half laughing. southern trees

as measure, metaphor.highways lined with kudzu-covered southern trees.

fuchsia, lavender, white, light pink, purple: crape myrtle bouquets burst

open on sturdy branches of skin-smooth bark: my favorite southern trees.

“where you are planted” reveals strong colors, brightness, discovery of the seasons, and the joys of youth. “Ballad of Roosevelt” reveals poverty and hardship. It shows a family struggling and waiting for the President to pull them through their hard times. Where both poems have vast differences in the circumstances of the poems, both poems are similar in the consistency of their structure. All of Shockley’s lines are written in lower-case letters (even the proper nouns like, Georgia) and each section has two lines. I also enjoyed the simplicity of Shockley’s poem, and growing up in Georgia or “georgia” I should say, this poem is kind of nostalgic for me. I had never read any of Shockley’s work before, or very much of Langston Hughes, but I greatly enjoy both of these writers and the poetry that they brought to the table.

**I found “Mulatto” interesting, and I would like to explore it more. I was not quite sure what to make of it, but I enjoyed reading it/felt disturbed by it at the same time. The poem made me feel very tense, and I assumed the tension was between the “yellow” boy and the black boy. Not only was there tension between the two boys, but also between the “scent of pine wood” and “the soft night air.” But then there is this thing where a body is a toy, and I am just not quite sure what to make of that in relation to the rest of the poem (maybe bodies are seen like toys, worthless things that can be thrown around and have little value?). I could be assuming wrong here, but it seems as if the “southern night full of stars, Great big yellow stars” is a metaphor for the yellow people, and the dark night are the “dark bodies,” or blacks. It also seems as if the term “white” and “yellow” are used synonymously:

The Southern night is full of stars,

Great big yellow stars,

            O, sweet as earth,

            Dusk dark bodies

            Give sweet birth

To little yellow bastard boys.

            Git on back there in the night

            You ain’t white.

The bright stars scatter everywhere.

Pine wood scent in the evening air.

            A nigger night,

            A nigger joy.

I am your son, white man!

A little yellow

Bastard boy. 

This poem was hard for me to read, yet intriguing at the same time. I hope to explore this poem deeper.