I Want to Write —Margaret Walker

About the poet:

Margaret Walker (1915-1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago. Her notable works include the award-winning poem For My People and the novel Jubilee, set in the South during the American Civil War. This book is considered notable in African-American literature and Walker is an influential figure for younger authors. Walker became a literature professor at what is todaylackson State University, a historically ‘Black’ college, Where she taught from 1949 to 1979. In 1968, Walkerfounded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People (now the Margaret Walker Center).

I want to write

want to write the songs of my people.

I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.

I want to catch the last floating strains from their sob-torn throats.

I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes.

I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;

fling dark hands to a darker sky

and fill them full of stars

then crush and mix such lights till they become

a mirrored pool of the dawn.