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These prints are from The Langston Hughes Series. Please scroll to the bottom of the page for more information and links about the artist and the book these illlustrations were commissioned for.
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| DAYBREAK IN ALABAMA | DREAM VARIATION | AUNT SUE'S STORIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS | THE WEARY BLUES | MOTHER TO SON | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| click on the images for larger versions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Langston Hughes Series (1998) Portfolio of 6 original full-page silkscreen prints (20 x 15 inches) created as illustrations of Langston Hughes's poetry for the book Sunrise Is Coming After A While. Poems were selected by Maya Angelou, who also wrote the introduction and afterword. all images © Phoebe Beasley, 1998 |
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| THE WEARY BLUES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o' those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man's soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan-- "Ain't got nobody in all this world, Ain't got nobody but ma self. I's gwine to quit ma frownin' And put ma troubles on the shelf." Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more-- "I got the Weary Blues And I can't be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can't be satisfied-- I ain't happy no mo' And I wish that I had died." And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead. From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. |
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| LINKS
PhoebeBeasley.com A Community of Angels Absolut Beasley Langston Hughes Minstrel Man |
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