Blues Poems

The blues have left an indelible mark on the work of a diverse range of poets from “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes and “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden to “Blues on Yellow” by Marilyn Chin and “Reservation Blues” by Sherman Alexie.  Included are blues-influenced and blues-inflected poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, June Jordan, Richard Wright, Nikki Giovanni, Charles Wright, Yusef Komunyakaa, Cornelius Eady and more.  Also included are classic song lyrics –- poems in their own right -– from Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, and Muddy Waters.