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I, TOO, a Poem by Langston Hughes
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By: Staff Reporter, SKNVibes |
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Langston Hughes is a writer of striking, seemingly simple poems.
His words are melodic; they have a musical rhythm. “I, too, sing America,” he writes at the beginning of his poem, “I, Too,” about an unnamed speaker who feels that his own country is ashamed of him. The speaker is relegated to eating in the kitchen, but, Hughes writes, “Tomorrow, / I’ll be at the table / When company comes.”
It’s a poem about protest, and the emotional and practical reasons protest becomes necessary. It’s also a poem about loving your country, but feeling as though you’re not truly a part of it.
It’s a poem that’s needed right now, which is why The New York Times dedicated an entire page to it in its print edition today.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
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