Gwendolyn Bennett

Gwendolyn B. Bennett - Nocturnes & Other VerseForgotten Poets #16 / forgottenpoets.substack.com'Nocturnes & Other Poets' 86 pages] brings together, for the first time, all of the available poems and short-stories by Harlem Renaissance poet and poetry critic Gwendolyn Bennett, published in the 1920s in prominent African American arts & culture magazines like Opportunity, The Crisis, and The Messenger (1923-28); with numerous restored illustrations by Bennett, also a well-known visual artist.. . . . . . . . .-: Purgation: -You livedand your bodyClothed the flames of earth. Now that the fires have burned awayAnd left your body cold, I tremble as I standBefore the chiseled marbleOf your dust-freed soul.. . . . . . . . .-: Quatrain: -How strange that grass should sing-Grass is so still a thing . . . And strange the swift surprise of snow, -So soft it falls and slow.. . . . . . . . . . The Forgotten Poets Newsletter presents: new collections of out-of-print and obscure poetry, with a focus on compressed & fragmented 'free' and 'new' verse from the late-1800s & early-1900s, & the early history of English-language tanka & haiku. Verses are carefully selected & spaciously laid-out, adorned with illustrations & ornaments from the books & magazines they originally appeared in.