the vacant lot

By Gwendolyn Brooks 1917–2000 Gwendolyn Brooks

Mrs. Coley’s three-flat brick

Isn’t here any more.

All done with seeing her fat little form

Burst out of the basement door;

And with seeing her African son-in-law

(Rightful heir to the throne)

With his great white strong cold squares of teeth

And his little eyes of stone;

And with seeing the squat fat daughter

Letting in the men

When majesty has gone for the day—

And letting them out again.

Source: Selected Poems (1963)

Biography

Gwendolyn Brooks was a highly regarded, much-honored poet, with the distinction of being the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. She also was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress—the first black woman to hold that position—and poet laureate of the State of Illinois. Many of Brooks's works display a political consciousness, especially those from the 1960s and later, with several of her poems reflecting the civil . . .

Continue reading this biography