A Keeper of Dreams: The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes. Knopf, 1932, 1994.

Reminiscent of Hailstones and Halibut Bones with the imagery and simplicity. All the poems employ specific and unique language, and often surprise with contrasting images like the sea being like a desert of waves or new leaves singing in the rain.

Incredible rhythm in the blues set. “And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red/Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain./Sweet silver trumpets,/Jesus!” Amen to that!

Interesting, too, how varied the poems are. Universal, global, modern somehow, despite being three quarters of a century old.

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Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
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