Daybreak in Alabama by Langston Hughes
“When I get to be a composer
I’m going to write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I’m going to put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
I’m going to put some small trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I’m going to put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
And touching each other as natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.”
1. Write a brief prose
piece about what your dream looked like in the past, or looks like now.
2. What strikes
you the most about the author’s use of senses? What do you see, hear, touch,
smell, taste in this poem?
3. Re-write your
prose piece adding sensory detail.
Closing
After
a few days re-read the three poems and your response to each. What comparison
of your dreams have you experienced that relates to the models Langston Hughes
gives in these poems?
Write
your own poem.
1. Do you see a re-connection to the power of
dreams in one’s life?
2. Which sense of voice at what age, or
emotions, do you most identify with?
3. What is your new dream?
4. If a writer what idea starter do you see
as a new project: picture book, short story, character, incident scene, or new
research.
5. In whatever art or life form you have for a
new dream to follow this year—what are your first steps?
6. Choose one step to do the first week of
this new year.
