Print a Poem

Portrait in Georgia

Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

Hair--braided chestnut,
coiled like a lyncher's rope,
Eyes--fagots,
Lips--old scars, or the first red blisters,
Breath--the last sweet scent of cane,
And her slim body, white as the ash
of black flesh after flame.