| El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) | |
Poem By: Robert Hayden | Views: 252 | Word Count: 83 | View PDF | Print View |
|
|
|
O masks and metamorphoses of Ahab, Native Son
I
The icy evil that struck his father down
and ravished his mother into madness
trapped him in violence of a punished self
struggling to break free.
As Home Boy, as Dee-troit Red,
he fled his name, became the quarry of
his own obsessed pursuit.
He conked his hair and Lindy-hopped,
zoot-suited jiver, swinging those chicks
in the hot rose and reefer glow.
His injured childhood bullied him.
He skirmished in the Upas trees
and cannibal flowers of the American Dream--
but could not hurt the enemy
powered against him there.
| If you enjoyed this famous poem, rate it! Currently Rated: Not yet rated - Be the first! |
About the Author Robert Hayden (1913 - 1980), born Asa Bundy Sheffey in Detroit, Michigan, was raised in a slum called Paradise Valley. Hayden's parents separated soon after his birth and he became the foster child of Sue Ellen Westerfield... Read Robert Hayden's Full Biography
More Poems By Robert Hayden
3: Full Moon
7: Perseus
9: Soledad
10: The Prisoners
+ View All Robert Hayden Poems
