February 7, 2021

For a Poet

Countee Cullen

I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth,
And laid them away in a box of gold;
Where long will cling the lips of the moth,
I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth;
I hide no hate; I am not even wroth
Who found earth’s breath so keen and cold;
I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth,
And laid them away in a box of gold.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on February 7, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“For a Poet” originally appeared in Color (Harper & Bros., 1925).

Countee Cullen was born Countee LeRoy Porter on May 30, 1903, likely in Louisville, Kentucky. He authored many collections, including On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen (Harper & Bros., 1947), The Black Christ and Other Poems (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1929), and Copper Sun (Harper & Bros., 1927). A teacher in New York City for twelve years, he died on January 9, 1946.

Color
(Harper & Bros., 1925)

“Rhapsody” by William Stanley Braithwaite
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“Harlem” by Langston Hughes
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Thanks to Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A about Griffiths’ curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

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Poem-a-Day - "For a Poet" by Countee Cullen

For a Poet

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