TWO MORE NE OHIO "FOREPOETS:" CRANE AND HUGHES, part 2

For National Poetry Month, I researched eight poets for the CCPL project, especially for their Northeast Ohio connections. Some of the research comes from 18 years of teaching "Ohio Writers" at The University of Findlay, to which I am grateful.

Titled "Five Things You May Not Know About....," the series got cut for a lack of space, but for a blogger, it's all grist for the mill. Today, I am featuring two of those poets, Hart Crane, whose birth and cenotaph are noted in Garretsville and who lived briefly in Cleveland, and Langston Hughes, who went to high school in Cleveland. Both poets were featured in the national series, Voices and Visions.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Five Things You May Not Know About

Langston Hughes

(Six, if you have never seen this baby picture)

 

*****Hughes came to Cleveland at age 14 and attended Central High School (later East Tech)

*****His Cleveland house was recently sold. View the interior at Busta-Pecks’ blog

*****Hughes left Cleveland at 18, writing “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as he left. Hear him read it here

*****He maintained connections with Karamu House and Cleveland friends throughout his life

*****You can download the Voices and Visions video about Hughes, with interviews by his friends from the Karamu House.