Langston Hughes

Hughes is a very smooth writer. I can see the correlation between his poetry and Jazz. Even though he is smooth many of his poems are about very serious subjects. His is the first section where I thought that the book Modern American Poets did not have enough selection of poems. Since I wanted to read more poems of his I got the library's copy of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. In the collected poems book there is a 11 word poem that made me teary eyed. I would never have thought that short of a poem would affect me. The poem is Suicide's Note and the 11 words are "The calm,/ Cool face of the river/ Asked me for a kiss"(p. 55). I liked one of his lighter spirited ones that is in the M.A.P. Morning After. "Baby!Please!/ Please don't snore so loud./ You jest a little bit o' woman but you/ Sound like a great big crowd"(p. 452). That one made me smile.