Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Sandburg writes: "When "Folk-Say" was published by the University of Oklahoma it included poems by Waring Cuney, a Black poet, [a part of the Harlem Renaissance] whose lines have simplicity that often goes with folk songs. Albert Hague has given a tune and an arrangement to two of the modern Cuney lyrics. Why shouldn't there be a song about the telephone book? Deftly the Cuney lines bring out that there can be moments when all the names in the phone book from A to Z are no use to you except a single precious one."
William Waring Cuney (May 6, 1906 – June 30, 1976) was a poet of the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his poem "No Images," which has been widely anthologized. Although his work was largely forgotten in the United States by the 1950s, it was translated into German and Dutch and developed a following in Europe. He published only two volumes of poetry in his lifetime: Puzzles, a limited edition published in the Netherlands in 1960, and Storefront Church, published in London in 1973. He died in New York City on June 30, 1976.
Sandburg writes: "When "Folk-Say" was published by the University of Oklahoma it included poems by Waring Cuney, a Black poet, [a part of the Harlem Renaissance] whose lines have simplicity that often goes with folk songs. Albert Hague has given a tune and an arrangement to two of the modern Cuney lyrics. Why shouldn't there be a song about the telephone book? Deftly the Cuney lines bring out that there can be moments when all the names in the phone book from A to Z are no use to you except a single precious one."
William Waring Cuney (May 6, 1906 – June 30, 1976) was a poet of the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his poem "No Images," which has been widely anthologized. Although his work was largely forgotten in the United States by the 1950s, it was translated into German and Dutch and developed a following in Europe. He published only two volumes of poetry in his lifetime: Puzzles, a limited edition published in the Netherlands in 1960, and Storefront Church, published in London in 1973. He died in New York City on June 30, 1976.
