(from Selected Poems, 1963)
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Emmett's mother is a pretty-faced thing;
the tint of pulled taffy.
She sits in a red room,
drinking black coffee.
She kisses her killed boy.
And she is sorry.
Chaos in windy grays
through a red prairie.
From Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems Copyright © 1963, by Gwendolyn Brooks.
Last modified September 30, 2002