Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an African-American poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950 and was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.

Read more about Gwendolyn Brooks:  Biography, Career, Excerpt, Honors and Legacy, Bibliography

Famous quotes by gwendolyn brooks:

    And shall I prime my children, pray, to pray?
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    Mrs. Small went to the kitchen for her pocketbook
    And came back to the living room with a peculiar look
    And the coffee pot.
    Pocketbook. Pot.
    Pot. Pocketbook.
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    We say ourselves fortunate to be driving by today.
    That we may look at them, in their gardens where
    The summer ripeness rots. But not raggedly.
    Even the leaves fall down in lovelier patterns here.
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    But who walks with Him? dares to take His arm,
    To slap Him on the shoulder, tweak His ear,
    Buy Him a Coca-Cola or a beer,
    Pooh-pooh His politics, call Him a fool?
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)

    Think of sweet and chocolate,
    Left to folly or to fate,
    Whom the higher gods forgot,
    Whom the lower gods berate;
    Physical and underfed
    Fancying on the featherbed ...
    Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)