[New-Poetry] Langston Hughes/ W. Dixon, Robert Johnson, etc--

[Chris Stroffolino]

Hi Karen---I'm trying to remember meeting you (sorry I'm blanking  
right now), but thanks for writing and for sharing that poem. I  
really appreciate it. Chris
On Jul 5, 2006, at 4:04 PM, karen wrote:

> Hi Chris-
>
> We've met before in SF.  How are you?  And greetings to the list.  I'm
> mostly a lurker.
>
> Anyway, I love Hughes.  I think he does indeed stand up on the page.
> Maybe it's because I live in Harlem for the time being. I keep
> returning to his poetry over and over again lately.  It's really fused
> to this place.  And everything that goes with it.  The frantic,
> rhythmic activity.  The buses hissing down 125th.  The loud voices,
> the boisterousness, the joy, the pride, the sorrow. Sometimes the
> desperation to reach out and hold anything close that won't slip away.
> It all gets meshed together here in one big roaring experience.
> Folks are pretty open about their moods.  People here remember you and
> say hi.  There is a certain romance he captures while never forgetting
> that hard stuff that makes Harlem's musical voice so unique, so tough,
> and so tender.
>
> And, no, I'm not much of a fan of slam poety, etc, etc.  But I try and
> keep my mind open.  Still, I connect with Hughes.
>
> One poem in particular that I've just been reading this week while
> commuting to work on the D train is this one:
>
> Juke Box Love Song
>
> I could take the Harlem night
> and wrap around you,
> Take the neon lights and make a crown,
> Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
> Taxis, subways,
> And for your love song tone their rumble down.
> Take Harlem's heartbeat,
> Make a drumbeat,
> Put it on a record, let it whirl,
> And while we listen to it play,
> Dance with you till day--
> Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.
>
> -Langston Hughes
>
>
> -karen
>
>>
>> In a message dated 7/2/2006 7:43:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
>> cstroffo at earthlink.net writes:
>> Hey, I got in a really good discussion the other day about Langston
>> Hughes' blues poems
>> (and yes I know that he recorded quite a few of them) and their
>> relationship to the blues lyrics
>> of, for instance, the folks above, or John Lee Hooker, Big Mama
>> Thornton, Ma Rainey, etc---
>>
>> And if anybody else here would maybe be interested in talking about
>> that relationship here--
>> Does it matter that Hughes worked primarily in a different field (in
>> the artistic specialization sense) than these other folks?
>> Is it somewhat analogous to the difference between, say, million
>> selling hip hop artists today vs. a slam poet aesthetic which
>> utilizes many devices of rap/hip hop?
>> Or, for that matter, even the difference between say Bob Dylan and
>> Allen Ginsberg's songs?
>>
>> There's alot of room for discussion (and, sure, bring on the "blues
>> bashers" though I'm definitely trying to
>> avoid the tired argument "it doesn't stand up on the page" and will
>> try not to engage it here if it comes up)--
>> Also, if anybody knows of any good essays on the subject----
>> specifically about Hughes and some of the other recorded bluesmen of
>> the 20th C---that'd be a nice supplement, but I really am not a big
>> fan of posts that just send LINKS
>> without any commentary as to why I'm supposed
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