“To Langston Hughes” – a poem by Connie Johnson

May 6th, 2025

 

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photo by Jack Delano/Library of Congress

Langston Hughes, 1942

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To Langston Hughes
……………after Robert Lee Brewer

Father of jazz poetry
Known for your artistry
Harlem-bred pedigree
In lines designed for spoken word
Like Montage of a Dream Deferred
Collabs you did with Monk & Mingus
Were all the stuff of literary genius
And wasn’t it Ms Nina Simone
Who picked up her microphone
To ably sing The Backlash Blues
About the woes of the darker hues?
Langston Hughes, o Langston Hughes!
You bring us the woesome Po’Boy Blues
Just to flip it ‘round with Life is Fine news
As the father of jazz poetry
You stir up a literary recipe
Filled with lines that linger so dreamfully
Filled with lines that depict us so mysteriously
Filled with lines brimming with truth so unsparingly
A body of work that won’t consign you to obscurity

As Harlem’s poet laureate
Oh man, you were the coolest cat
With a slick moustache & your fedora hats
Langston Hughes, o Mr Langston Hughes!
There’s so much jazz in The Weary Blues
You have a style that flips, dips & woos
It’s poetry dependent on a subtle backbeat
Poetry that knows when to scold or be sweet
Poetry designed to move our minds & our feet
I could literally dance to your rhythms & rhymes!
They brighten my mood in the darkest of times
Even when life makes me cry in my beer
You seemingly say: don’t despair, we’re…Still Here

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Listen to Connie Johnson read her poem

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Connie Johnson is based in Los Angeles, CA and is a four-time Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. Everything is Distant Now (Blue Horse Press), is her debut poetry collection; In a Place of Dreams, her digital album/chapbook (containing audio readings and personal narrative), was published by Jerry Jazz Musician. Click here to view it.

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Watch the 1958 film of Langston Hughes reading his poem “The Weary Blues” 

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Information about Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry

The Sunday Poem

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“Saharan Blues on the Seine,” Aishatu Ado’s winning story in the 68th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest

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