Robert Hayden (1913-1980) published his first book of poems, Heart-Shape in the Dust, in 1940.
Even though he was interested in African American history and often expressed his concerns about race in his writing, he didn’t want to be identified as a black poet. William Meredith wrote about him: “Hayden declared himself, at considerable cost in popularity, an American poet rather than a black poet, when for a time there was posited an unreconcilable difference between the two roles. There is scarcely a line of his which is not identifiable as an experience of black America, but he would not relinquish the title of American writer for any narrower identity.”
Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
Deadline: 5th December 2018
haiku by Robert Hayden https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-hayden
picture by Thomas Griesbeck https://unsplash.com/@jack_scorner