Poem
mimi12
NEWYORKOVERVIEW.pptxNew York
Léopold Sédar Senghor
"New York! At first your beauty confused me, and your great longlegged golden girls. I was so timid at first under your blue metallic eyes, your frosty smile, so timid"
When we think about New York City, we think of a city of hopes and dreams, a city of go-getters. To some, this can be a bit intimidating but exciting at the same time.
"Your sulfurous light and the livid shafts (their heads dumbfounding the sky)" "But at fortnight on the bald sidewalks of Manhattan –At the end of the third week the fever takes you with the pounce of a jaguar."
Not everything that glitters, is gold but is sometimes a shiny façade.
"At fortnight with no well or pasture, all the birds of the air fall suddenly down below the high ashes of the terraces. No child 's laughter blossoms...no tender word for mouths are lipless. Hard cash buys artificial hearts."
Once you see past the façade, you see the true city. Although, yes, it is still that city of hopes and dreams but it is also not the paradise one may come to expect. That is what we're shown in movies, media, and books. Always the bright side. The shallow side.
"I have seen Harlem humming with sounds and solemn colour and flamboyant smells."
Some of us seek to find the heart and soul of New York. And that you can find in Harlem. Let’s not fall for the single story of New York, let’s discover ALL of New York.
"I have seen them preparing at flight of day, the festival of the Night. I proclaim there is more truth in the Night than in the day."
The booming nightlife of Harlem in the 1920s.The Harlem Renaissance.
"Harlem Harlem! I have seen Harlem Harlem! A breeze green with corn springing from the pavements ploughed by the bare feet of dancers in crests and waves of silk and breasts of spearheads, ballets of lillies and fabolous masks."
Harlem gave us that sense of culture that some of us can relate to from own upbringing. A place that we could let loose and have fun without worrying about how others perceive us.
"New York! I say to New York, let the black blood flow into your blood. Cleaning the rust from your steel articulations, like an oil of life."
The city of New York, although beautiful, could use a bit of the culture that Harlem exudes. Bring some warmth to the big city so that we all can celebrate life to the fullest.
"It is enough to open out eyes to the April Rainbow and the ears, above all ears to God who with a burst of Saxophone laughter created the heavens and the earth in six days. And on the seventh day, he slept his great negro sleep"
Works Cited
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "General View - Manhattan - Aerial view - Midtown looking southeast" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1887 - 1964. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-c333-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Broadway Theater Row - New York 1957 photograph by Daniel Hagerman, uploaded on May 27th, 2018 via fineartamerica.com https://fineartamerica.com/featured/broadway-theater-row-new-york-1957-daniel-hagerman.html
Crowded conditions in New York’s tenements—and the diseases those bred—inspired housing reforms at the turn of the 20th century. https://ny.curbed.com/2020/3/19/21186665/coronavirus-new-york-public-housing-outbreak-history
The Cotton Club, Harlem, New York City, c. 1930.Science History Images/Alamy https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art
Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York City. 1950. © Cornell Capa / Magnum Photos https://www.pinterest.com/pin/68187381840440157/
