The Blues

When the shoe string breaks

On both your shoes

And your in a hurry-

That's the blues

When you go to buy a candy bar

And you've lost the dime you had-

Slipped through a hole in your pocket somewhere-

That's the blues, too, and bad!

Langston Hughes

This is one of my favourite poems. Langston Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance tha begun in the early 20s - a Black Conciseness movement similar to the Francophone African idea of Negritude. The former had a significant influence on the latter in forming the African identity. The movement died out in the last century but their poetry is no less significant nor inspiring.