It’s Over in the Blink of an Eye
Make Every Second Count, Because It’s All Over Very Quickly…
As I’m writing this, it’s Sunday, October 17th, 2021 and Black Poetry Day. Each year I make note of this day by reading a poem or two written by my favorite Black poets, sharing my favorite finds with my online community as well as friends and family, and then closing the book on what this day means to me.
We live in a world where people must be put in boxes that recognize them for a variety of reasons: gender, ethnicity, age, religion, political beliefs, and so many more. If we didn’t do that, would some groups be marginalized, or forgotten, or ignored? Perhaps. Life is over in the blink of an eye and I, for one intend to take in as much as I can during my stay on this little planet I call home.
I’ve chosen two Black poets as my favorites this year. They are as different as two people could be, yet similar in so many ways. They are Langston Hughes and Amanda Gorman and to me they represent the power of the written and spoken word and how it has been used throughout the ages to deliver a message to a wider audience than they could have reached in any other way.
Langston Hughes was a favorite poet of my mother. She was also born in Missouri; she in St. Joseph and he in Joplin, just 16 years earlier. These towns…
