In This Place (An American Lyric) Amanda Gorman  An original poem written for the inaugural reading of Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith at the Library of Congress. There’s a poem in this place— in the footfalls in the halls in the quiet beat of the seats. It is here, at the curtain of day, where America writes a lyric you must whisper to say. There’s a poem in this place— in the heavy grace, the lined face of this noble building, collections burned and reborn twice. There’s a poem in Boston’s Copley Square where protest chants tear through the air like sheets of [...]

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes  I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the      flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln      went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy      bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky [...]