Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen, born as Coleman Rutherford, was an African American poet, author and scholar who was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He pronounced his name "Coun-tay", not "Coun-tee"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth30 May 1903
CityLexington, KY
CountryUnited States of America
cutting black battle
I cut my teeth as the black raccoon-- For implements of battle.
life-and-death grace life-is
Whatever lives is granted breath But by the grace and sufferance of Death.
wings ties earth
For we must be one thing or the other, an asset or a liability, the sinew in your wing to help you soar, or the chain to bind you to earth.
heart ends
Never love with all your heart, It only ends in aching.
strong stars men
What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When the birds of Eden sang?
made
We were not made to eternally weep.
prayer wine dark
Not for myself I make this prayer, But for this race of mine That stretches forth from shadowed places Dark hands for bread and wine.
white people feelings
[W]e have always resented the natural inclination of most white people to demand spirituals the moment it is known that a Negro is about to sing. So often the request has seemed to savor of the feeling that we could do this and this alone.
black poet curious
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:/ To make a poet black, and bid him sing!
poet ifs
If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be POET and not NEGRO POET.
pain names poverty
Dame Poverty gave me my name, And Pain godfathered me.
plant reap
We shall not always plant while others reap
giving poetry way
My poetry has become the way of my giving out what music is within me.
heart home keys
The key to all strange things is in thy heart..../ My spirit has come home, that sailed the doubtful seas.