Poeticous Logo
en
English Español Français Italiano
Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

Madam and the Phone Bill

You say I O.K.ed
LONG DISTANCE?
O.K.ed it when?
My goodness, Central
That was then!
 
I’m mad and disgusted
With that Negro now.
I don’t pay no REVERSED
CHARGES nohow.
 
You say, I will pay it—
Else you’ll take out my phone?
You better let
My phone alone.
 
I didn’t ask him
To telephone me.
Roscoe knows darn well
LONG DISTANCE
Ain’t free.
 
If I ever catch him,
Lawd, have pity!
Calling me up
From Kansas City.
 
Just to say he loves me!
I knowed that was so.
Why didn’t he tell me some’n
I don’t know?
 
For instance, what can
Them other girls do
That Alberta K. Johnson
Can’t do—and more, too?
 
What’s that, Central?
You say you don’t care
Nothing about my
Private affair?
 
Well, even less about your
PHONE BILL, does I care!
 
Un—humm—m! . . . Yes!
You say I gave my O.K.?
Well, that O.K. you may keep—
 
But I sure ain’t gonna pay!

#Americans #Blacks

Enjoyed this read? Treat us to a coffee!.
Your help allows us to exist.
Other works by Langston Hughes...
God

I am God— Without one friend, Alone in my purity World without end. Below me young lovers
 1
I look at the world

I look at the world From awakening eyes in a black fac… And this is what I see: This fenced—off narrow space Assigned to me.
 1
Final Curve

When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left
Problems

2 and 2 are 4. 4 and 4 are 8. But what would happen If the last 4 was late? And how would it be
Ardella

I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams
 1
Lincoln Monument: Washington

Let’s go see Old Abe Sitting in the marble and the moon… Sitting lonely in the marble and t… Quiet for ten thousand centuries,… Quiet for a million, million years…
Ballad of the Gypsy

I went to the Gypsy’s. Gypsy settin’ all alone. I said, Tell me, Gypsy, When will my gal be home? Gypsy said, Silver,
 2
Wealth

From Christ to Ghandi Appears this truth— St. Francis of Assisi Proves it, too: Goodness becomes grandeur
A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run?
 2
The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the w… My soul has grown deep like the ri… I bathed in the Euphrates when da… I built my hut near the Congo and…
 2
For Selma

In places like Selma, Alabama, Kids say, In places like Chicago and New York...
Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening
Madam and Her Madam

I worked for a woman, She wasn’t mean— But she had a twelve—room House to clean. Had to get breakfast,
The Fourth Estate, by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo
Oppression

Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers.
 1
Silence

I catch the pattern Of your silence Before you speak I do not need To hear a word.
 2



Top