Langston I've been wondering . . .
Published in Poet's Domain, 2004 Edition
Published in Skipping Stones, 2005 Edition
Copyright © 2004,2005
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.
Should the dreams that are stored
in the silence behind my eyes
be bestowed a blessing of deferment
or, should my desire at nine,
to wear the flaming fireman's suit
be replaced by a new dreaming
in Senior High, of marriage bed
with the bountifully bosomed cheerleader
also be with-held in time until
meeting at tenth High School reunion:
seeing her weighing two hundred pounds
holding a chain of children's hands?
Dozing at nineteen in University Dorm,
did my raisin dream of riding
a hundred horse powered Harley bike
shrivel in the sun and stall
when my room-mate raced his "Hog"
into a solid highway retaining wall:
his funeral cries leaving me limp
causing my heavy heart to sink
like a load into my chest
or, are these dreams that seep
out of my soul's stored silence,
sending "Karmic" lessons from another "I"?
Some Information About the Above Poem
From Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
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