If you look up the word poetry on dictionary.com, you’ll find a definition that speaks to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. Poets the world over have made themselves known for their individual style and tone, but perhaps one of the best examples of delivering an expression through rhythm belongs to the poet Langston Hughes.
On February 6th Dr. Ron McCurdy will be hosting The Langston Hughes Project “Ask Your Momma: Twelve Moods of Jazz” at Bay Path. Hughes, an American poet in the 1920s through the 1960s was a leading voice in his time, writing about topics that are deeply relevant today – equality, racism, and black culture.
In an effort to serve our students and community, Bay Path, too, has settled into its own distinctive style and rhythm, offering programs and class schedules designed specifically for the student whose own life has a style and rhythm wildly different than that of many traditional college students.
To celebrate Black History Month and the arrival of the Langston Hughes project, we’re sharing a few of our favorite Langston Hughes poems. Each of these pieces of written works speaks to the tenacity, aspiration, and vision that Bay Path was built on and that we believe each of our students carries with them each day.
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Helen Keller
She,
In the dark,
Found light
Brighter than many ever see.
She,
Within herself,
Found loveliness,
Through the soul's own mastery.
And now the world receives
From her dower:
The message of the strength
Of inner power.
I continue to dream
I take my dreams and make of them a bronze vase
and a round fountain with a beautiful statue in its center.
And a song with a broken heart and I ask you:
Do you understand my dreams?
Sometimes you say you do,
And sometimes you say you don't.
Either way it doesn't matter.
I continue to dream.
The Langston Hughes Project (LHP) "Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods of Jazz” will be presented at Bay Path University on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, at 7:00 PM, in the Mills Theatre, located in Carr Hall on the Bay Path campus. This multimedia presentation involves spoken word, video and music to develop cultural knowledge and appreciation for diversity. This event is free and open to the public. Please register in advance here.
