Anne Spencer
A Harlem
Renaissance
Original
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White Things
Most things are colorful things-the sky, earth, and sea.
They pyred a race of black, black men,
Black men are most men;
And burned them to ashes white; then,
but the white are free!
Laughing, a young one claimed a skull,
White things are rare things;
For the skull of a black is white, not dull,
so rare, so rare
But a glistening awful thing
They stole from out a silvered
world--somewhere.
Finding earth-plains fair plains,
save greenly grassed,
They strewed white feathers of
cowardice, as they passed;
The golden stars with lances fine,
The hills all red and darkened pine,
They blanched with their want of power;
And turned the blood in a ruby rose
To a poor white poppy-flower.
Made, it seems, for this ghoul to swing
In the face of God with all his might,
And swear by the hell that sired him:
"Man-maker, make white!"
The Wife-Woman
Maker-of-Sevens in the
scheme of things
From earth to star;
Thy cycle holds whatever is
fate, and
Over the border the bar.
Though rank and fierce the
mariner
Sailing the seven seas,
He prays as he holds his
I cannot love them; and I
feel your glad,
Chiding from the grave,
That my all was only worth
at all, what
Joy to you it gave,
These seven links the Law
compelled
For the human chain-I cannot love them; and
A jungle there, a cave here,
bred six
And a million years.
Sure and strong, mate for
mate, such
Love as culture fears;
I gave you clear the oil and
wine;
You saved me your hob
and hearth-See how even life may be
But I can wait the seven of
moons,
Or years I spare,
Hoarding the heart's plenty,
nor spend
A drop, nor share-So long hilt outlives a smile
and a silken gown;
Then gaily reach up from
my shroud,
Figure 1:
Gottlieb, William P. Portrait of Duke Ellington, et al. Library
of Congress Prints & Photographs Division,
Washington
D.C. 22 Mar. 2007
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html.
Figure 2:
Gottlieb, William P. Dancers in a Jazz Club. Library of
Congress Prints & Photographs Division,
Washington
D.C. 22 Mar. 2007
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html.
Figure 3:
VanDerZee, James. A Couple Wearing Raccoon Coats With
a Cadillac, Taken on West 127th Street. 1932. CNF
Transportation Collection, Palo Alto, CA. Encyclopedia
Britannica: Concise. 22 Mar. 2007
http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-68817.
Figure 4:
Untitled. 1929. Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum,
Lynchburg, VA. American Society of Landscape Architects.
22 Mar. 2007
http://www.asla.org/awards/2004/04winners/entry131.html.
Figure 5:
Untitled. Virginia Farm Bureau Association, Richmond, VA. 22
Mar. 2007
http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/photo/picture.htm.
Figure 8:
Annie Scales Spencer, Age Twenty-Three. Voices from the Gaps.
Univ. of Minnesota. 22 Mar. 2007
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/spencer_anne.html.
Figure 9:
Untitled. Anne Bethel Spencer. 23 Mar. 2007
http://www.lynchburgbiz.com/anne_spencer/history.html.
Figure 10:
Untitled. Archives of the Southern Memorial Association. American
Society of Landscape Architects. 22 Mar.
2007
http://www.asla.org/awards/2004/04winners/entry131.html.
Figure 11:
Untitled. “A Poet’s Home as it Was.” So What If Poe Was
Really Here: Identifying and Evaluating
Landmarks. 23 Mar. 2007
Virginia’s Literary
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/kane/thesis/asss10.htm.
Figure 12:
Rainey, Reuben M. Edankraal. American Society of Landscape
Architects. 22 Mar. 2007
http://www.asla.org/awards/2004/04winners/entry131.html.
Figure 13:
Untitled. Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, Lynchburg,
VA. American Society of Landscape
Architects. 22 Mar.
2007 http://www.asla.org/awards/2004/04winners/entry131.html.
Figure 16:
Dunbar High School. Jan. 1924. Albert and Shirley Small
Special Collections Library, Charlottsville, VA. 24 Mar.
2007 http://mcgregor.lib.virginia.edu/davis/FMPro?-db=jd&format=details.html&-op=cn&County=Campbell&State=Virginia&recid=35777&-find=.
Figure 17:
Dunbar High School Library Branch. Jan. 1924. Albert and
Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Charlottsville, VA.
24 Mar. 2007 http://mcgregor.lib.virginia.edu/davis/FMPro?db=jd&-format=details.html&op=cn&County=Campbell&State=Virginia&-recid=35781&-find=.
Figure 18:
Untitled. Postcards from Helaine Victoria Press. 25 Mar.
2007 http://www.jocelync.com/hvpress/pages/spencer_psd.htm.
Figure 19:
Untitled. World War I. 22 Mar. 2007
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/index.htm.
Figure 20:
beetler517. Untitled. 21 Mar. 2007
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone/index.htm.
Figure 21:
The Pleiades in Taurus. Sept. and Oct. 1998. Chuck’s