People

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



To those fixed on white,
White is white,
To those fixed on black,
It is the same,
And red is red,
Yellow, yellow-
Surely there are such sights
In the many colored world,
Or in the mind.
The strange thing is that
These people never see themselves
Or you, or me.

Are they not in their minds?
Are we not in the world?
This is a curious blindness
For those that are color blind.
What queer beliefs
That men who believe in sights
Disbelieve in seers.

O people, if you but used
Your other eyes
You would see beings.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

30 sec read
110

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXXXXBCDXXX XCXDXBX XXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 496
Words 101
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 12, 7, 3

Jean Toomer

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

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