"White Things" by Anne Spencer

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend Support Poem-a-Day September 29, 2019   White Things   Anne Spencer

Most things are colorful things—the sky, earth, and sea.                   Black men are most men; but the white are free! White things are rare things; so rare, so rare They stole from out a silvered world—somewhere. Finding earth-plains fair plains, save greenly grassed, They strewed white feathers of cowardice, as they passed;                  The golden stars with lances fine                  The hills all red and darkened pine, They blanched with their wand of power; And turned the blood in a ruby rose To a poor white poppy-flower.              This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 29, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About This Poem   "White Things" was published in The Crisis in March 1923.   Anne Spencer was born in Henry County, Virginia, on February 6, 1882. Although most of her work was published in anthologies and magazines during her lifetime, her work was published posthumously in Time's Unfading Garden: Anne Spencer's Life and Poetry (Louisiana State University Press, 1977) and appeared in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (W. W. Norton 1973), where she became the first black woman ever featured. She died on July 27, 1975, in Lynchburg, Virginia. Poetry by Spencer   Time's Unfading Garden: Anne Spencer's Life and Poetry (Louisiana State University Press, 1977) "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton "picking flowers" by Nate Marshall "The White Witch" by James Weldon Johnson September Guest Editor: Eduardo C. Corral   Thanks to Eduardo C. Corral, author of Guillotine, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2020, who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Corral about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

From our sponsors