Celebrating Black Poet Laureate

Today I am spotlighting some of the various Black poet laureates of the United States according to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is best-known as the home of U.S. Poet Laureate, a position which from 1936-1985 operated under the less recognizable title “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.”

Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden became the first Black poet to serve as Consultant in Poetry in 1976. Originally invited to serve as Consultant in 1969, he was forced to decline due to work circumstances. When he was again invited to serve in the position in 1975, he was able to accept.

Those Winter Sundays

By Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks was the 29th and final poet to serve as Consultant in Poetry before the position’s title was rebranded as Poet Laureate in 1985.

We Real Cool 

By Gwendolyn Brooks

The Pool Players.

Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Rita Dove

Rita Dove was appointed the seventh U.S. Poet Laureate, and first Black Poet Laureate, on May 19, 1993.

American Smooth 

By Rita Dove

We were dancing—it must have

been a foxtrot or a waltz,

something romantic but

requiring restraint,

rise and fall, precise

execution as we moved

into the next song without

stopping, two chests heaving

above a seven-league

stride—such perfect agony,

one learns to smile through,

ecstatic mimicry

being the sine qua non

of American Smooth.

And because I was distracted

by the effort of

keeping my frame

(the leftward lean, head turned

just enough to gaze out

past your ear and always

smiling, smiling),

I didn’t notice

how still you’d become until

we had done it

(for two measures?

four?)—achieved flight,

that swift and serene

magnificence,

before the earth

remembered who we were

and brought us down. 

Natasha Trethewey

On June 7, 2012, Natasha Trethewey was appointed the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Her first term as Poet Laureate was noteworthy for her “Office Hours” during which she met with the general public in the Library’s Poetry Room, harkening back to the tradition established by Robert Hayden and several other of her predecessors.

Housekeeping

By Natasha Trethewey

We mourn the broken things, chair legs

wrenched from their seats, chipped plates,

the threadbare clothes. We work the magic

of glue, drive the nails, mend the holes.

We save what we can, melt small pieces

of soap, gather fallen pecans, keep neck bones

for soup. Beating rugs against the house,

we watch dust, lit like stars, spreading

across the yard. Late afternoon, we draw

the blinds to cool the rooms, drive the bugs

out. My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie.

I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog,

listen for passing cars. All day we watch

for the mail, some news from a distant place.

Tracy K. Smith

On June 14, 2017, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the appointment of Tracy K. Smith as the 22nd Poet Laureate, making her the first Laureate appointed by the current Librarian. Smith’s signature project in the position involved bringing poetry to audiences outside places where poets typically present their work.

Semi-Splendid

By Tracy K. Smith

You flinch. Something flickers, not fleeing your face. My

Heart hammers at the ceiling, telling my tongue

To turn it down. Too late. The something climbs, leaps, is

Falling now across us like the prank of an icy, brainy

Lord. I chose the wrong word. I am wrong for not choosing

Merely to smile, to pull you toward me and away from

What you think of as that other me, who wanders lost among ...    

Among whom? The many? The rare? I wish you didn’t care.

I watch you watching her. Her very shadow is a rage

That trashes the rooms of your eyes. Do you claim surprise

At what she wants, the poor girl, pelted with despair,

Who flits from grief to grief? Isn’t it you she seeks? And

If you blame her, know that she blames you for choosing

Not her, but me. Love is never fair. But do we — should we — care?

Bonus National Youth Poet Laureate 

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. 

Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb'