Richard Wright
The New Masses
(April 30, 1935)
.
Turn
….…Red leaves of red books
Turn
….…In white palms and black palms
Turn
….…Slowly in the mute hours of the night
Turn
….…In the fingers of women and the fingers of men
….…In the fingers of the old and the fingers of the young
Turn
….…Under the nervous flickering of candles
….…Under yellow gas sputterings
….…Under dim incandescent globes
Turn
….…In the North and in the South
….…In the East and in the West
Turn
….…Ceaselessly and reveal your printed hope
Turn
….…Until your crispness leaves you
….…Until you are dog-eared
….…Until the calloused hands that grip you
Are hardened to the steel of unretractable purpose!
.
Note: Credit goes to Clara Everbeck for tracking down this poem and bringing it to my attention. She suggested that I publish it on my blog along with a short bio or introduction to Wright and the issues he was looking to address. My familiarity with his work is unfortunately limited to the recollections featured in The God that Failed, alongside contributions by Arthur Koestler, André Gide, and Ignazio Silone.