Bitter Crop
Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
If you imagine South America instead of the American South, where Abel Meeropol wrote this poem in 1939 after seeing a photograph of the lynching of two black youths, it could be describing the plantations of the same era in Guatemala. The impoverished workers endured terrible abuses at the hands of landowners, where it was not uncommon for the bodies of those who dissented to be burned or hung from trees, a bitter crop amongst those which they laboured to harvest.
Poem found on this page:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=11517
tag: last301
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
If you imagine South America instead of the American South, where Abel Meeropol wrote this poem in 1939 after seeing a photograph of the lynching of two black youths, it could be describing the plantations of the same era in Guatemala. The impoverished workers endured terrible abuses at the hands of landowners, where it was not uncommon for the bodies of those who dissented to be burned or hung from trees, a bitter crop amongst those which they laboured to harvest.
Poem found on this page:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=11517
tag: last301
posted by Serena at 8:57 PM
2 Comments:
There is also a song Called 'Strange Fruit' by Nina Simone. I actually thought this was the original but as it turns out I stand corrected. I recommend that you download this song and see how its done in another perspective. I mean the poem has power and emotion but I find that it does not compare to the amount in the song. For me the song just brings to life the horror at the time. Every time I hear it I get a lil' vaclempt! ...I'm just going to need a moment... im listening to the song now... .... .... check it out...
Thanks - I will.
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