I Wish The Rent Was Heaven Sent.

Negro Writers, Just By Being Black, Have Been On The Blacklist All Our Lives. Do You Know That There Are Libraries In Our Country That Will Not Stock A Book By A Negro Writer, Not Even As A Gift? There Are Towns Where Negro Newspapers And Magazines Cannot Be Sold Except Surreptitiously. There Are American Magazines That Have Never Published Anything By Negroes. There Are Film Studios That Have Never Hired A Negro Writer. Censorship For Us Begins At The Color Line.

If The Government Can Set Aside Some Spot For A Elk To Be A Elk Without Being Bothered, Or A Buffalo To Be A Buffalo Without Being Shot Down, There Ought To Be Some Place Where A Negro Can Be A Negro Without Being Jim Crowed.

Out Of Love, No Regrets-- Though The Goodness Be Wasted Forever. Out Of Love, No Regrets-- Though The Return Be Never.

I Did Not Believe Political Directives Could Be Successfully Applied To Creative Writing . . . Not To Poetry Or Fiction, Which To Be Valid Had To Express As Truthfully As Possible The Individual Emotions And Reactions Of The Writer.

Oh, God Of Dust And Rainbows, Help Us To See That Without The Dust The Rainbow Would Not Be.