November Cotton Flower

Jean Toomer 1894 (Washington, D.C.) – 1967 (Doylestown)



Boll-weevil's coming, and the winter's cold,
Made cotton-stalks look rusty, seasons old,
And cotton, scarce as any southern snow,
Was vanishing; the branch, so pinched and slow,
Failed in its function as the autumn rake;
Drouth fighting soil had caused the soil to take
All water from the streams; dead birds were found
In wells a hundred feet below the ground--
Such was the season when the flower bloomed.
Old folks were startled, and it soon assumed
Significance. Superstition saw
Something it had never seen before:
Brown eyes that loved without a trace of fear,
Beauty so sudden for that time of year.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
136

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 601
Words 105
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Jean Toomer

Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance. more…

All Jean Toomer poems | Jean Toomer Books

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