Now available at Texas Tech University Press: Images in the River: The Life and Work of Waring Cuney by Cynthia Davis and Verner D. Mitchell. The poet William Waring Cuney (1906–1976) transmuted observations from his contrasting Afro-Texan roots and elite Black upbringing into poetic writings.
This biographical monograph featuring a selection of 100 of Cuney’s poems—some of which have never been published before—provides insight into the Harlem Renaissance and the experiences of African American musicians, blue-collar workers, children, blues singers, and the community as a whole.
TTUP is honored to publish Images in the River: The Life and Work of Waring Cuney and share Cuney’s life and work. Readers will appreciate the historical significance and resonate with the personal facets embedded in Cuney’s verses.
The exclusive excerpt below captures Cuney’s time in New York City with composer Albert Hague.
Telephone Book
A phone-book full of names don’t mean a thing
If the one you love don’t answer when you ring.
A phone-book full of names is nothing at all
Unless the one you love answers when you call.
What good is a phone-book, names from A to Z
If my fine baby won’t talk to me?
A phone-book full of names don’t mean a thing
If the one you love don’t answer when you ring.
[Circa 1952, previously unpublished.]