I am so tired of waiting,
Aren’t you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two –
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.
The above is the poem “Tired” by Langston Hughes. My first encounter with Hughes was in 7th grade. That year my English teacher announced that we all had to memorize and recite a poem with at least 20 lines.
Many of the boys in the class defied Mrs. Vogel’s “no running” directive and sprinted to the bookshelves and began counting lines.
A few days later, Mrs Vogel called me to her desk and this conversation ensued:
Mrs. V: What poem did you choose, Scott?
Me: Uh….”Mother To Son” by Langston Hughes
Mrs. V: It’s interesting that so many of the boys in my classes picked that. Why did you choose that poem?
Me: Uh…um… it was the only poem I found that had exactly 20 lines. I didn’t want to memorize more than I had to.
Mrs. V (chuckling): Thanks for confirming my suspicions.