Online Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses

  • Not a critical or scholarly text but a reading text for a seminar

Langston Hughes

(1902-67)

Jazzonia

 

Jazzonia

Oh, silver tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!

In a Harlem cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.                    4
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Lifts high a dress of silken gold.

Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!                   8

Were Eve's eyes
In the first garden
Just a bit too bold?
Was Cleopatra gorgeous                         12
In a gown of gold?

Oh, shining tree!
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!

In a whirling cabaret                                 16
Six long-headed jazzers play.