Poems Used in 8th Grade Poetry Lesson  Harlem (A Dream Deferred)
by Langston Hughes  What happens to a dream deferred?  Does it
dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then
run?  Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?  Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.  Or
does it explode?  It’s Hot in the City  by Peter West  White
light glares on car rails, cobbles, Swirling dust and scraps of
paper Stirred by baked enamel autos. Shirt-sleeved drivers,
forearms upright Sickly-sweet, warm, wafted smells—from Joe’s
Place and the Lucky Garden— Mingling, bring no invitation
Lolling dogs droop in dead doorways. Children seek the soiled
and struggling Patch of earthy grass between the Bus stop and
the supermarket; Lining up to bow and gasp in Turn at the
delicious shock of Water gushing from the fountain.  Damp, red
men and moist, pale women Feel the grilling sidewalks reach up,
Suck vitality through shoe soles Down toward the earth’s hot
center. Old folk, wise, rel