Browse Items (33 total)

This poem is titled with a racial slur to elaborate that it not only depicts slavery, but also speaks for black people generally. The poem is a description of enslaved blacks which calls them a "dead race." In discussing slavery, it contrasts their…

This poem contrasts the longings of two Mexican men. The first, "born into Gayety Hall," feels out of place during a visit to Mexico and wishes to be back home in busy Manhattan. The second, born in Mexico, is in the setting that the first dreams of,…

In this poem, the narrator claims that Jewish people always live in sukkot (plural form of sukkah), defined at the end of the piece as "a small tent built for a week of meals and prayer to celebrate the Jewish harvest holiday of Succoth." It…

This poem reinforces ideas of hopelessness and permanence, repeating many lines and ultimately lamenting, "but you are trapped, hung in one spot / dangling over water, lost / to one world, lost in the other[.]" "Bugger" is a homophobic slang term.…

This poem from the Spring 1990 issue of the Messenger features an assumedly French female student who corrects a classmate's pronunciation of the word 'femme fatale.' Another classmate then reminds her that they aren't in France. The narrator then…

This poem by a white student describes two "bums," one black and one white, who ultimately realize that, despite their differences and the oppressive attitudes of the white person towards the black person, each is the only friend that the other has.

This poem from the 1954 Messenger addresses a bumpy city bus that the narrator rides, urging it to pay attention to the people that ride it. This narrator speculates about the lives and personalities of some assumedly white riders before listing off…

This poem by a white student tells of the race dynamics of a public bus. It contrasts young students from St. Catherine's with black riders as the bus enters a poorer section of the city. The narrator claims that she is the only one who acknowledges…

In this poem, freshman J. Isaiah Bailey expresses his deep frustrations with being Black and attending the University of Richmond. He describes it as “being imprisoned with rich kids in a system.” He goes on to list numerous aspects about…

This "Old Piedmont Negro dialect" poem was written by a white male student masquerading as a black storyteller. Its title refers to the fictional central character, Nias, an enslaved black man who is characterized as an unintelligent, unhygenic, yet…