The Dream Keeper

We start our Parade of Poetry on the first day of Black History Month.  Established in the 1920s, Black History Month provides a month-long chance to learn about the history, cultural contributions, and achievements of African-Americans.   

Today, we also celebrate the birthday and the poetry of African-American poet Langston Hughes.  Through his writing, Hughes promoted African-American culture and encouraged equality for all. 

Dreams are a frequent theme in the poetry of Langston Hughes.  One of today's poems, The Dream Keeper, imagines poets to be protectors of hopes and dreams:
  
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamers,
Bring me all of your 
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

Hughes wrote today's second poem, Dreams, in the 1920s.  The poem encourages African-Americans to hold onto their dreams of freedom and equality. The beautiful words, written long ago, continue to inspire readers today:

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

We think that Langston Hughes made good use of metaphor when he wrote Dreams.  A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two things by saying one thing is another thing.  Langston Hughes wrote that when dreams are lost, “Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” and that “Life is a barren field frozen with snow.”   

Metaphors are fun to write, and they help make a poem more descriptive.

Can you write a metaphor?  
My dream is a... round-ish red balloon aloft,
tied with slender lengths 0f wishing-string stretching
from my offered hand to the big blue-wish sky.

Give it a try and share it!

My dream is a...