James Baldwin Poetry

     James Baldwin has been referred to as the most important black American writer of the twentieth century. His father was a minister of a church. He was born with eight brothers and sisters. He was born in Harlem. His father was very strict on him. At times he found himself competing with his father. He was involved with the civil rights struggle. Homosexuality was a frequent topic to his work.
     Baldwin's poem Sonny's Blues was like I was reading a story. Sonny got picked up from the police for selling and using heroin. The narrator could not believe it and continued to express his grief and his feelings of being so surprised. Sonny was his brother and he could not find it in himself to believe that it was true. He had never turned violent or evil as people say about people that use drugs. He couldnt imagine his brother going down hill so badly.