Border-Gone

"Long Gone" by Sterling Brown was undoubtedly my favorite selection from The Harlem Renaissance Reader. This is because it works on so some interesting levels.
First of all, "Long Gone" is a poem that tears down conventional standards of poetry. 'Proper English' was the poetic language of the time, as was being used by people like T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes. Indeed, Sterling Brown even shows his competency with standard verse in other anthologized poems. However, "Long Gone" casts off the yolk of expectation in favor of a more realistic kind of dialogue. The improper grammar, terrible spelling, and twisted syntax is completely forgettable because of its catchy rhyme scheme, and effective story-telling ability. When you read it, you can just imagine some down-home southern guy telling this poem to his girlfriend right before he hops on the next train out of town.
Second, the subject matter of long gone is able to transcend race and class. I am not black, and I do not speak anything like the narrator of the poem. However, I feel for him! His impulse - the restless drive that keeps him moving - is found universally. I have the itch for traveling too, especially when I've stayed somewhere for a little bit too long.
Finally, I like the inconsistent metrical pattern. The first stanza of the poem is divided into lines of 7-6-6-5 beats, and the second is 5-5-6-5. This inconsistency adds to the restless feel of the poem. It makes the reader jump along, and the syntax staggers this effect. This clever use of meter in combination with phrasing is the mark of a good poem.