"Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,I heard a Negro play.Down on Lenox Avenue the other nightBy the pale dull pallor of an old gas lightHe did a lazy sway. . . .He did a lazy sway. . . .To the tune o' those Weary Blues.With his ebony hands on each ivory keyHe made that poor piano moan with melody.O Blues!"
"discussion Sunday, Feb. 1, at Literary Arts: The Weary Blues at 100: Maude Hines and Emmett Wheatfall Discuss Langston Hughes. The free event begins at 4 p.m. and honors Hughes and the centennial of his poem, The Weary Blues. Hines, chair of Black Studies at Portland State University, and Wheatfall, award-winning performance poet, will discuss Hughes' life, legacy, and influence. The event is a precursor to an off-Broadway style performance of poetry and jazz Feb. 7 at Alberta Abbey celebrating Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance."
An excerpt from Langston Hughes’s "The Weary Blues" evokes a Black pianist swaying and making a piano moan with melody on Lenox Avenue. February programming honors Black pioneers, authors, and artists who shaped local and national literature. Langston Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance and fused jazz and blues rhythms into his poetry, drawing on his experience as a Black man in America. One poem famously asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?" His work confronts fear, hope, decay, racial inequality, and the pursuit of equal civil rights. Local events include a free Literary Arts discussion on Feb. 1 and a poetry-and-jazz performance on Feb. 7.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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