A Negro Love Song (Paul Laurence Dunbar)

A Negro Love Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

[A conversation after I read this aloud to my husband]

"You like it?"

"Huh?"

"The poem I just read."

"Wasn't really listening. Do you?"

"Well, um... I like the refrain - the "jump back, honey, jump back" part."

"Yeah, I did like that."

"But the rest of it - the story is kind of basic...."

"Yeah, just a 'She's so pretty. I like you. - Oh, I like you, too'- kind of thing."

"Exactly, the poem's story doesn't grab me. The dialect in it is accomplished, I guess, but aggravating in its 1800s-ness. Plus, it made it so slow to read. Having to figure out what each dialect word was."

"But that one line was pretty sweet."

"Yeah, totally made it."

Favorite line: "jump back, honey, jump back"