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OBSCURE POET

ALBERY ALSTON WHITMAN  (1851-1901)

Born in slavery in Kentucky

Epic poet, minister, orator

Wrote book-length narrative poems detailing the African-American experience.

Pastored church in Springfield, Ohio

Attempted to write Romantic poetry.  Was inspired by Lord Byron.

Poet Laureate of the black race

Struggled with alcoholism and illness

Died from pneumonia

WORKS

* Not a Man, and Yet a Man  (1877)

* The Rape of Florida republished as Twesinta Seminoles (1884)

* An Idyl of the South. (1901)

WORDS OF WISDOM

 Something to think about.

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POEM

 

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JUNE IS HERE

 

READ BOOKS

 

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DON'T BE MEDIOCRE

 

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WORDS OF WISDOM

 

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CAN'T STOP

 

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SECRETS

 

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PAYING HOMAGE

 

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TRUE

 

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WORDS OF WISDOM

 

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CONVERSATIONS WITH THE UNREAL

 

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FREE EXPRESSION

 

Writing has helped me express my thoughts and feelings.

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BOOK

 

I am drawn to characters, people who are outside the norm.

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SOMEONE NEEDS THIS

 

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KEEP READIING

 

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WORDS OF WISDOM

 

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TRUE STATEMENT

 

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HONORING MOMS

 

OBSCURE POET

 

ANNE BETHEL SPENCER

Born in Virginia in 1883

Poet

Poetry engage ther poems durng their lifemes of religion, race, and the natural world

First black woman poet to be featured in Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry

Maintained close relationships with many writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Thirty of her poems during her life

Helped establish a chapter of NAACP in Lynchburg, Virginia

Died at 93 in 1975

DUNBAR

Ah, how poets sing and die!

Make one song and Heaven takes it;

Have one heart and Beauty breaks it;

Chatterbox, Shelley, Keats and I-

Ah, how poets sing and die.

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BALLAD

 

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GRASPING AT STRAWS

 

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WORDS OF WISDOM

 

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CELEBRATE

 

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COMMENTARY

 "Writing is powerful but it can also be terrifying."

I found this quote in Pinterest. Thought I don't remember who said it I can identify with it. The terrifying part sticks with me. I have written about topics that never brooched.

I have experienced dark periods in my life. I wrote about fear, abandonment, transition, sex, beauty standards, and the crossroads I was at.  What I discovered much later was that it was the best writing I had done. 

Edgar Allan Poe is my favorite author because he could write about dark subjects with such clarity. Confronted with the darkness, I search for the light. Now I write about those zubjects that are uncomfortable.

Writing is not a linear craft. I have grown much as a writer and poet. I'm still being challenged-and I need that.

FIFTH MONTH

 

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