Gwendolyn Bennett – Nocturnes & Other Verse

Gwendolyn B. Bennett – Nocturnes & Other Verse Forgotten Poets #16 / forgottenpoets.substack.com ‘Nocturnes & Other Poets’ 86 pages brings together, for the first time, all of the available poems and short-stories by Harlem Renaissance poet and poetry critic Gwendolyn Bennett, published in the 1920s in prominent African American arts & culture magazines like Opportunity , The Crisis , and The Messenger (1923-28); with numerous restored illustrations by Bennett, also a well-known visual artist. . . . . . . . . . -: Quatrain :- How strange that grass should sing— Grass is so still a thing . . . And strange the swift surprise of snow,— So soft it falls and slow. . . . . . . . . . -: Purgation :- You lived and your body Clothed the flames of earth. Now that the fires have burned away And left your body cold, I tremble as I stand Before the chiseled marble Of your dust-freed soul. . . . . . . . . . . -: Nocturne :- This cool night is strange Among midsummer days . . . Far frosts are caught In the moon’s pale light, And sounds are distant laughter Chilled to tears. . . . . . . . . . . The Forgotten Poets Newsletter presents: new collections of out-of-print and obscure poetry, with a focus on compressed & fragmented ‘free’ and ‘new’ verse from the late-1800s & early-1900s, & the early history of English-language tanka & haiku. Verses are carefully selected & spaciously laid-out, adorned with illustrations & ornaments from the books & magazines they originally appeared in. These are not “”reprints”” of previously published books, but newly crafted collections, for the serious poetry lover. —- ISBN: 9781991310262