Color

<p><I>Color</I> (1925) is a collection of poems by Countee Cullen. Published the same year Cullen entered Harvard to pursue a masters in English <I>Color</I> was a brilliant debut by a poet who had already gained a reputation as a leading young artist of the Harlem Renaissance. Deeply personal and attuned to poetic tradition Cullen's verses capture the spirit of creative inquiry that defined a generation of writers musicians painters and intellectuals while changing the course of American history itself.<p>Over three centuries removed / From the scenes his fathers loved / Spicy grove cinnamon tree / What is Africa to me? In Heritage Cullen investigates his relationship with the past as a black man raised in a nation his people were forced to build. His question bears a dual sense of genuine wonder and cynical doubt and ultimately produces no easy answer. For Cullen could have just as easily asked What is America to me? to which his poem Incident might respond: I saw a Baltimorean / Keep looking straight at me. / [...] / And so I smiled but he poked out / His tongue and called me 'Nigger.' / [...] Of all the things that happened there / That's all I can remember. In these lines a single memory serves to define an entire city; an entire childhood even is defined by the violent response of a white man consumed with hatred. Cullen's relationship to place whether Africa America or Baltimore is inextricably linked to his experience of racial violence. With this knowledge he navigates the spaces between these places inhabiting a language and a poetic tradition thrust upon him at birth. For Cullen poetry is as much a means of survival and self-invention as it is a form of art-without it where would he be?<p>Since our inception in 2020 Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. <p>With thousands of titles in our collection we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.</p>