Famous+poetry+by+African+Americans

**Morning Poem #1  ** floating gray web pages step into a crowded vacuum clouds sweating  there's a gauzy scrim in front of my eyes between me and the rest of the world

Afternoon birds

By Wanda Phipps   (1960-Present)

**A Poem For Myself  ** (or Blues for a Mississippi Black Boy)

I was born in Mississippi; I walked barefooted thru the mud. Born black in Mississippi, Walked barefooted thru the mud. But, when I reached the age of twelve I left that place for good. My daddy chopped cotton And he drank his liquor straight. Said my daddy chopped cotton And he drank his liquor straight. When I left that Sunday morning He was leaning on the barnyard gate. Left my mama standing With the sun shining in her eyes. Left her standing in the yard With the sun shining in her eyes. And I headed North As straight as the Wild Goose Flies, I been to Detroit & Chicago Been to New York city too. I been to Detroit & Chicago Been to New York city too. Said I done strolled all those funky avenues I'm still the same old black boy with the same old blues. Going back to Mississippi This time to stay for good Going back to Mississippi This time to stay for good- Gonna be free in Mississippi Or dead in the Mississippi mud.

**by Etheridge Knight ** (1931-1991)

**The White City  ** I will not toy with it nor bend an inch. Deep in the secret chambers of my heart I muse my life-long hate, and without flinch I bear it nobly as I live my part. My being would be a skeleton, a shell, If this dark Passion that fills my every mood, And makes my heaven in the white world's hell, Did not forever feed me vital blood. I see the mighty city through a mist-- The strident trains that speed the goaded mass, The poles and spires and towers vapor-kissed, The fortressed port through which the great ships pass, The tides, the wharves, the dens I contemplate, Are sweet like wanton loves because I hate. (1889-1948)
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">by Claude McKay **