The Buckley School's founder believed that all public speakers should hone their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud. Above, a photograph of writer Jesse Redmond Fauset.
"Kind and critical—but not too critical for the young— they nursed us along until our books were born."
– Langtson Hughes, on the role of Fauset in his career
A poet and novelist herself, Jesse Redmond Fauset worked as literary editor for The Crisis, the NAACP's magazine cofounded by W.E.B. Du Bois. In that role, she introduced writers Langston Hughes, Anne Spencer, and Countee Cullen to readers nationwide.
Fauset was born in 1882 in Camden, New Jersey. An oustanding student, she went to Cornell on scholarship, where she was likely the first black female student to attend that university. She earned a degree in classical languages, then taught in Baltimore and Washington D.C. before moving to New York to edit The Crisis.
Fauset published poems, short stories, and several novels. She also edited The Brownies' Book, the first magazine for African American children and an influential publication in children's literature.
Below, one of her poems to read aloud, with lines that invite you to experiment with adding emotion to your vocal delivery.
Again it is September
Again it is September!
It seems so strange that I who made no vows
Should sit here desolate this golden weather
And wistfully remember—
A sigh of deepest yearning,
A glowing look and words that knew no bounds,
A swift response, an instant glad surrender
To kisses wild and burning!
Ay me!
Again it is September!
It seems so strange that I who kept those vows
Should sit here lone, and spent, and mutely praying
That I may not remember!
