Be Nobody’s Darling

Alice Walker 1944 (Eatonton)



Be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
 
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
 
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.
 
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
 
Be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.
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Submitted by ChloeHills on April 20, 2020

Modified on May 02, 2023

27 sec read
2,305

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABxxxxxx xcxxx Bxxxxcx axxxd ABxd
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 524
Words 92
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 5, 7, 5, 4

Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, self-claimed womanist, and activist. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. more…

All Alice Walker poems | Alice Walker Books

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