Occasioned by February being Black History Month, but worth reading at any time: Kevin Young on Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues.
Langston Hughes became one of my favorite poets when I first got serious about writing. After reading Kevin Young’s splendid essay about the context in which The Weary Blues was published (as well as background on the jazz aesthetic and blues form), I want to revisit some of Hughes work, both for muse and pleasure. Add that to my reading list.