When I Rise Up
When I rise up above the earth,
And look down on the things that fetter me,
I beat my wings upon the air,
Or tranquil lie,
Surge after surge of potent strength
Like incense comes to me
When I rise up above the earth
And look down upon the things that fetter me.
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When I rise up above the earth,
And look down on the things that fetter me,
I beat my wings upon the air,
Or tranquil lie,
Surge after surge of potent strength
Like incense comes to me
When I rise up above the earth
And look down upon the things that fetter me.
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Hello Friends,
You’ve probably heard of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, but did you know that the most prominent figures of that era — including Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Alain Locke — all had strong roots in Washington D.C. before Harlem? A big draw to the Capitol was the strong community promoting Black arts and culture in and around Howard University. Today’s featured poet, Georgia Douglas Johnson, lived at 1461 S Street NW (a few blocks from Howard), known as the S Street Salon or the Saturday Nighters, and an important meeting place for writers of the Harlem Renaissance in Washington, D.C.
Georgia Douglas Johnson was also featured for Poem-A-Day April 11, 2018.
— Ellen