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Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices
Acclaimed writer Walter Dean Myers celebrates the people of Harlem with these powerful and soulful first-person poems in the voices of the residents who make up the legendary basketball players, teachers, mail carriers, jazz artists, maids, veterans, nannies, students, and more. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood and a people.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2004
18 people are currently reading
394 people want to read
About the author
Walter Dean Myers
233 books1,184 followerspseudonyms:
Stacie Williams
Stacie Johnson
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia but moved to Harlem with his foster parents at age three. He was brought up and went to public school there. He attended Stuyvesant High School until the age of seventeen when he joined the army.
After serving four years in the army, he worked at various jobs and earned a BA from Empire State College. He wrote full time after 1977.
Walter wrote from childhood, first finding success in 1969 when he won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest, which resulted in the publication of his first book for children, Where Does the Day Go?, by Parent's Magazine Press. He published over seventy books for children and young adults. He received many awards for his work in this field including the Coretta Scott King Award, five times. Two of his books were awarded Newbery Honors. He was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Virginia Hamilton Award. For one of his books, Monster, he received the first Michael Printz Award for Young Adult literature awarded by the American Library Association. Monster and Autobiography of My Dead Brother were selected as National Book Award Finalists.
In addition to the publication of his books, Walter contributed to educational and literary publications. He visited schools to speak to children, teachers, librarians, and parents. For three years he led a writing workshop for children in a school in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Walter Dean Myers was married, had three grown children and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old.
Stacie Williams
Stacie Johnson
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia but moved to Harlem with his foster parents at age three. He was brought up and went to public school there. He attended Stuyvesant High School until the age of seventeen when he joined the army.
After serving four years in the army, he worked at various jobs and earned a BA from Empire State College. He wrote full time after 1977.
Walter wrote from childhood, first finding success in 1969 when he won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest, which resulted in the publication of his first book for children, Where Does the Day Go?, by Parent's Magazine Press. He published over seventy books for children and young adults. He received many awards for his work in this field including the Coretta Scott King Award, five times. Two of his books were awarded Newbery Honors. He was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Virginia Hamilton Award. For one of his books, Monster, he received the first Michael Printz Award for Young Adult literature awarded by the American Library Association. Monster and Autobiography of My Dead Brother were selected as National Book Award Finalists.
In addition to the publication of his books, Walter contributed to educational and literary publications. He visited schools to speak to children, teachers, librarians, and parents. For three years he led a writing workshop for children in a school in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Walter Dean Myers was married, had three grown children and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 112 reviews
January 25, 2015
Listened to this full-cast audiobook on the way up to Ft. Wayne this morning. The poems are a joy to listen to and the book contains a wide variety, from heart-breaking to laugh-out-loud funny. I think the poems beg to be read aloud, so listening to them on audiobook is a great way to experience the book.
April 21, 2025
Probably one of the best audiobooks of poetry I’ve read, loved the cast
March 11, 2018
Love the speakers in this collection and the glimpses into Harlem life they offer.
September 29, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this!!! 💚💚💚
September 24, 2025
This was cool. I agree with Myers; we should have more Spoonriver Anthology type options.
July 24, 2022
These 54 poems, all in dissimilar voices but written by one hand, do resonate.
They make a pleasurable, warm and wonderful noise as the author credits the people — the nurses, students, soldiers, and ministers — of his beloved hometown, Harlem.
Harlem Renaissance is a term that has been used to define a period of flowering, exploration, and flourishing of the arts among African American writers and artists from roughly 1920 to 1933. It is often seen as a partnership by a select few. This elucidation is more than ever evident in social studies textbooks, which often devote as little as a paragraph to the entire era.
Researchers and scholars may have a broader base of knowledge, but the average reader or student has limited knowledge of the sum or of the parts that created the Harlem Renaissance.
Walter Dean Myers, who grew up in Harlem, reaches back to his youth with a compilation of first-person poems that characterize an assortment of citizens from that effervescent New York neighborhood in the late 1940s.
Each of the poems — untitled, but identified by the name of the speaker, along with his or her age and occupation — is based on someone the author individually knew, or knew about, as he was growing up.
Take Clara Brown's Testimony for instance:
Everybody's asking me why I'm always talking about Harlem.
Well, child, to me, Harlem is like an old friend.
Sometimes she won't do right, or do exactly what you want her to do.
Sometimes she's needy when you don't have anything extra to be giving.
But you know what to expect from a real friend, and that's what Harlem has been to me.
And if you give to Harlem, it always finds a way to give back.
When I hear music coming from the apartment windows or from the doors of a storefront church,
I know that's Harlem giving me a gift.
And it's music that's more than just head music.
It's music my soul remembers from way past what my brain knows about.
I love the people of Harlem, too.
Tes, that's right, all of them.
Because one by one they may not be that much.
But, honey, all together, they're Harlem, and you can't ask for more than that.
Or Mali Evans, a 12-year old student’s poem:
I'd like to be old one day
Like Mrs. Purvis with her gray
Hair like a halo around her black face
She says it's her crown, her tiara
She walks slowly, grandly
Down the avenue, as if the streets
Were her queendom and even
The winos smile and bow
Or raise their hands in greeting
I would like to be an ancient lady
Tree-tough and deep-rooted
In the rich soil of my dark
Foreverness
And the only thing white I would wear
Is the crown about my
Sweet black face…
In the Introduction to this book, the author writes:
So many of my heroes are in this book. Langston Hughes used to do readings and sell his books from a shopping bag in my church. Countee Cullen taught school a few blocks from my house. Joe Louis had the good grace to shake his huge fist at the kids on my block. Other residents have become heroes to me. The nurse working at Harlem Hospital, the old men sitting on Lenox Avenue, the brilliant black children dancing through the streets of my sweet village. The poets, the lovers, the musicians, and those who sweat from day to day just to survive.
Framed by the memories of an eighty-seven-year-old retired singer, the book also introduces the local undertaker, several veterans, a newsstand dealer, a numbers runner, a party girl, and a handful of high school and college students.
The frequently free verse poems reveal the delusions, disenchantments, and every day experiences of these well-defined yet prototypal characters in an anthology that brings an entire community to life in verse.
One of my most excellent reads of this year thus far.
They make a pleasurable, warm and wonderful noise as the author credits the people — the nurses, students, soldiers, and ministers — of his beloved hometown, Harlem.
Harlem Renaissance is a term that has been used to define a period of flowering, exploration, and flourishing of the arts among African American writers and artists from roughly 1920 to 1933. It is often seen as a partnership by a select few. This elucidation is more than ever evident in social studies textbooks, which often devote as little as a paragraph to the entire era.
Researchers and scholars may have a broader base of knowledge, but the average reader or student has limited knowledge of the sum or of the parts that created the Harlem Renaissance.
Walter Dean Myers, who grew up in Harlem, reaches back to his youth with a compilation of first-person poems that characterize an assortment of citizens from that effervescent New York neighborhood in the late 1940s.
Each of the poems — untitled, but identified by the name of the speaker, along with his or her age and occupation — is based on someone the author individually knew, or knew about, as he was growing up.
Take Clara Brown's Testimony for instance:
Everybody's asking me why I'm always talking about Harlem.
Well, child, to me, Harlem is like an old friend.
Sometimes she won't do right, or do exactly what you want her to do.
Sometimes she's needy when you don't have anything extra to be giving.
But you know what to expect from a real friend, and that's what Harlem has been to me.
And if you give to Harlem, it always finds a way to give back.
When I hear music coming from the apartment windows or from the doors of a storefront church,
I know that's Harlem giving me a gift.
And it's music that's more than just head music.
It's music my soul remembers from way past what my brain knows about.
I love the people of Harlem, too.
Tes, that's right, all of them.
Because one by one they may not be that much.
But, honey, all together, they're Harlem, and you can't ask for more than that.
Or Mali Evans, a 12-year old student’s poem:
I'd like to be old one day
Like Mrs. Purvis with her gray
Hair like a halo around her black face
She says it's her crown, her tiara
She walks slowly, grandly
Down the avenue, as if the streets
Were her queendom and even
The winos smile and bow
Or raise their hands in greeting
I would like to be an ancient lady
Tree-tough and deep-rooted
In the rich soil of my dark
Foreverness
And the only thing white I would wear
Is the crown about my
Sweet black face…
In the Introduction to this book, the author writes:
So many of my heroes are in this book. Langston Hughes used to do readings and sell his books from a shopping bag in my church. Countee Cullen taught school a few blocks from my house. Joe Louis had the good grace to shake his huge fist at the kids on my block. Other residents have become heroes to me. The nurse working at Harlem Hospital, the old men sitting on Lenox Avenue, the brilliant black children dancing through the streets of my sweet village. The poets, the lovers, the musicians, and those who sweat from day to day just to survive.
Framed by the memories of an eighty-seven-year-old retired singer, the book also introduces the local undertaker, several veterans, a newsstand dealer, a numbers runner, a party girl, and a handful of high school and college students.
The frequently free verse poems reveal the delusions, disenchantments, and every day experiences of these well-defined yet prototypal characters in an anthology that brings an entire community to life in verse.
One of my most excellent reads of this year thus far.
January 26, 2015
The full-cast audiobook adds a lot to this, I think. It's a great collection of characters in Harlem in the 30s, some with funny stories, others tragic, others just observing. I think it would be a great classroom accompaniment to a lesson about the Harlem Renaissance, or a unit about storytelling through poetry, maybe.
October 31, 2020
This book of poetry was fabulous as an audiobook! The music, sounds, and different voices made the poetry even better!
April 29, 2025
This book I got for free as an audiobook from Sync some years back (ten years now!). They used to have summer offerings of free audios, one or two month, and most in the young adult arena. I picked up a handful of these books, yet never listened to any and thought I should get around to it. I started with this fairly short book.
This book of poetry is written in the style of the Spoon River Anthology. Myers wanted to create a community of voices of Harlem that reflected the time of his youth. So each poem is a different person, that starts with their name age and what their job. There is one exception, a woman character who repeats six times and her info is not given.
The audio has sound effects and music accompanying the poems so it makes for an immersive experience. The poems of each person vary to what looks more like a poem than not. While poetry is often abstract and combines words together unexpectedly, these here are more descriptive, more like sentences. Some rhyme some do not.
Taken as a whole you do get a sense of community, the people who populated Harlem and for that I think this book succeeds.
I listened to it all at one time since it is short enough to do so. I have a feeling the audio book is a better way to experience this book than in print, but likely both would work well.
This book of poetry is written in the style of the Spoon River Anthology. Myers wanted to create a community of voices of Harlem that reflected the time of his youth. So each poem is a different person, that starts with their name age and what their job. There is one exception, a woman character who repeats six times and her info is not given.
The audio has sound effects and music accompanying the poems so it makes for an immersive experience. The poems of each person vary to what looks more like a poem than not. While poetry is often abstract and combines words together unexpectedly, these here are more descriptive, more like sentences. Some rhyme some do not.
Taken as a whole you do get a sense of community, the people who populated Harlem and for that I think this book succeeds.
I listened to it all at one time since it is short enough to do so. I have a feeling the audio book is a better way to experience this book than in print, but likely both would work well.
July 24, 2018
Moments captured in time, a love letter to Harlem neighbors, joyful and grieving, angry and hopeful, complicated and simply sweet, getting by and soaring upwards.
Walter Dean Myers was raised in Harlem in the 1940's, and these first-person poems were inspired by the people and the rhythms and the energy of his Harlem neighborhood. Modeled after Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology, Walter Dean Myers made the form very much his own. The poetic forms are as varied as the people they depict, freeform and sonnet and masterful blues.
The audio version of this book is beautifully created. The fourteen narrators, including the author, bring the poems to heartbreaking and heartlifting life. The occasional inclusion of music, street sounds, and the West Harlem Piers builds just the right mood without intruding on the words.
Walter Dean Myers was raised in Harlem in the 1940's, and these first-person poems were inspired by the people and the rhythms and the energy of his Harlem neighborhood. Modeled after Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology, Walter Dean Myers made the form very much his own. The poetic forms are as varied as the people they depict, freeform and sonnet and masterful blues.
The audio version of this book is beautifully created. The fourteen narrators, including the author, bring the poems to heartbreaking and heartlifting life. The occasional inclusion of music, street sounds, and the West Harlem Piers builds just the right mood without intruding on the words.
August 27, 2023
A very short but impactful collection of different voices in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers.
December 11, 2023
tfw ur a willow in the memory of a storm :,) duke ellington u would’ve loved clara brown’s 4th testimony
December 8, 2019
Quick read, but Walter Dean Anderson has some poetry chops. Enjoyed "listening" to the characters that inhabit his recreation of Harlem at a golden moment in history. Pictures complement poems.
December 22, 2022
I do not usually like poetry, but this was a good one. Also the first book I used my new bookmark from Mrs. Marcucci on <3
April 18, 2022
Fun history poetry.
May 3, 2020
This collection of first-person poems consists of the voices of the residents who make up the legendary neighborhood, Harlem, New York. The diverse perspectives given are of basketball players, teachers, mail carriers, jazz artists, maids, veterans, nannies, students, and more. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood’s people and culture.
Providing middle school students with this collection of poems will relate to them due to the diverse voice and accounts that are collected and presented. This collection of poems will resonate with everyone in the class, from the athletic students to those who are on the more musical side due to the array of perspectives given. Using this collection of poems to use in a perspective unit will showcase the culture and people of Harlem from many different angles. Harlem will provide a different experience for everyone within the poems and students will be able to draw a vast amount of differences, but will be able to draw some similarities or overarching themes of each as well.
A writing activity that almost replicates the structure of this collection is "I Was a Witness" (Gallagher 70-71) This text lets students learn history from a nontraditional textbook. Students are able to learn history from first-hand accounts, which is is what this writing strategy exactly does. Students will consider the history that they have witnessed and explain an instance and what they saw, similarly to the narrators of the poems in this text. In their composition, the statement that they chose to elaborate on can be simple as "The boy at the playground only went down the slide" to something a bit more complex or dreary like "My dog bit my neighbor". This text is acts as a mentor text when students complete this activity.
Providing middle school students with this collection of poems will relate to them due to the diverse voice and accounts that are collected and presented. This collection of poems will resonate with everyone in the class, from the athletic students to those who are on the more musical side due to the array of perspectives given. Using this collection of poems to use in a perspective unit will showcase the culture and people of Harlem from many different angles. Harlem will provide a different experience for everyone within the poems and students will be able to draw a vast amount of differences, but will be able to draw some similarities or overarching themes of each as well.
A writing activity that almost replicates the structure of this collection is "I Was a Witness" (Gallagher 70-71) This text lets students learn history from a nontraditional textbook. Students are able to learn history from first-hand accounts, which is is what this writing strategy exactly does. Students will consider the history that they have witnessed and explain an instance and what they saw, similarly to the narrators of the poems in this text. In their composition, the statement that they chose to elaborate on can be simple as "The boy at the playground only went down the slide" to something a bit more complex or dreary like "My dog bit my neighbor". This text is acts as a mentor text when students complete this activity.
October 25, 2015
I got this nook via SYNC 2015 and figured hmmmmmmm. Im not going to like this. I was right. Against all expectation I loved this.
I think this is a brilliant work and the narrators rocked the poems.
WaAr
I think this is a brilliant work and the narrators rocked the poems.
WaAr
April 30, 2024
Here in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers is a collection of the people from Harlem. It's main purpose is to celebrate the culture of the people of Harlem, including things like culture, religion, art, music, etc. I really liked this book because I loved how it showed the different perspectives of the people in Harlem. It's amazing how much people can differ but have so many similarities, all while living in the same neighborhood. I noticed that a lot of poems were about money, and living in poverty, and this was very meaningful to me because it made me realize how alike all of these people were. However, even with this you could see what different paths these people had taken. The author wrote their occupation at the beginning of every poem, and it was amazing to see how different their jobs were, but how similar their feelings were. A great example is Richmond Leake's poem, where he talks about how he didn't do anything remarkable in school and just worked for money. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a bigger perspective on what the culture of Harlem is like and to see how these people are so similar but different in the same way.
December 31, 2019
This full-cast audiobook is a hidden treasure. I've taken to listening to poetry on audio lately, as I find the poems speak more to me when I hear them read aloud. Here in Harlem is a collection of poems showing what daily life was like in Harlem in the 1930's and 40's, when Myers was growing up. There is a recurring cast of characters; dozens of people share their perspective on Harlem, the world, their passions, beliefs, and friendships.
The audio production is worth picking up. Not only do we have over a dozen different narrators, including the author, but the production company also includes music and ambient noise such as street sounds or the sounds of people in a café, to set the scene. Each narrator plays a specific character and the recurrence of their voice helped connect me back to their story as I listened. For example, the woman who ran the salon - she is one of my favorite characters, as she is a huge gossip and busybody, but spends each poem denying this aspect of herself.
Highly recommended for fans of poetry and history.
The audio production is worth picking up. Not only do we have over a dozen different narrators, including the author, but the production company also includes music and ambient noise such as street sounds or the sounds of people in a café, to set the scene. Each narrator plays a specific character and the recurrence of their voice helped connect me back to their story as I listened. For example, the woman who ran the salon - she is one of my favorite characters, as she is a huge gossip and busybody, but spends each poem denying this aspect of herself.
Highly recommended for fans of poetry and history.
April 6, 2025
Walter Dean Myers has done it again, folks—he’s made me feel things. Ugh. If I wanted that, I’d go outside and interact with real humans. Instead, I picked up Here in Harlem, expecting a pleasant little poetry collection. What I got was a masterclass in storytelling, voice, and atmosphere so vivid I could practically hear the jazz spilling from the pages.
Each poem is a first-person snapshot of Harlem life, like an oral history, except instead of some droning professor, you get a veteran with a sharp tongue, a kid with big dreams, a tired but proud nanny, and a whole cast of people who feel so real you start wondering if you should invite them over for dinner. The energy? Electric. The emotion? A rollercoaster. The talent? Disgustingly good.
Well, if you’re not in the mood to feel like you’ve been transported straight to a Harlem street corner with no way out, you might feel a little overwhelmed. Also, where was my warning label that some of these poems would hit me right in the gut? I thought I was signing up for a nice poetic stroll—not an emotional ambush.
Overall, Here in Harlem is a vibrant, immersive tribute to the people who shape a community. Read it if you enjoy books that make you feel cultured, connected, and just a little bit wrecked.
Each poem is a first-person snapshot of Harlem life, like an oral history, except instead of some droning professor, you get a veteran with a sharp tongue, a kid with big dreams, a tired but proud nanny, and a whole cast of people who feel so real you start wondering if you should invite them over for dinner. The energy? Electric. The emotion? A rollercoaster. The talent? Disgustingly good.
Well, if you’re not in the mood to feel like you’ve been transported straight to a Harlem street corner with no way out, you might feel a little overwhelmed. Also, where was my warning label that some of these poems would hit me right in the gut? I thought I was signing up for a nice poetic stroll—not an emotional ambush.
Overall, Here in Harlem is a vibrant, immersive tribute to the people who shape a community. Read it if you enjoy books that make you feel cultured, connected, and just a little bit wrecked.
April 29, 2025
Ever wondered, what happened from the perspective of black people in Harlem? Well, this book describes that in detail. Different stories varying from an old mailman to an eight year old child, this book includes a ton of different perspectives and stories written by many different people.
This book was okay for me. Generally, I don't really like poetry, so go figure I won't like the poetry book very much. The book itself and it's content are amazing, but its just not for me. Poetry often leaves me confused, sometimes angry, but generally just frustrated. IMO, A language is meant to convey information clearly, and I don't think poems are clear at all sometimes. I don't like how there is always hidden meaning behind every single word in some poems. I totally get that people love poetry for the exact reasons above, but it's simply not for me.
This book was okay for me. Generally, I don't really like poetry, so go figure I won't like the poetry book very much. The book itself and it's content are amazing, but its just not for me. Poetry often leaves me confused, sometimes angry, but generally just frustrated. IMO, A language is meant to convey information clearly, and I don't think poems are clear at all sometimes. I don't like how there is always hidden meaning behind every single word in some poems. I totally get that people love poetry for the exact reasons above, but it's simply not for me.
June 27, 2022
While I can't recommend all of them to my 4th and 5th grade students, when I see a book by Walter Dean Myers I know I need to read it and I will enjoy it! Here in Harlem is not only gripping writing to read but the format is unusual and exciting. Myers uses all his knowledge and experiences to "honor the people-the nurses, students, soldiers, and ministers-of his beloved hometown, Harlem." It is fascinating to hear all the different life experiences as you read through each poem. What I would consider "the narrator," Clara Brown, speaks multiple times throughout the anthology and her prose grounded me in the stories as I read. Marvelous.
July 11, 2021
Loved this collection of poems capturing the many voices of Harlem! The author did a beautiful job of bringing each person to life and weaving their voices together in a soulful song. He captured the livelihood of his Harlem. Many times I had to remind myself that each poem was written by the same person, even though each sounded as though it was written by the person itself. A collection worth having on my shelves. Definitely going to find an audio version to enjoy next. It would be fantastic to hear a live performance too!
November 22, 2018
A picture of a community presented through the voices of people who live there. This collection accomplishes exactly what it set out to do, and it does it with finesse. I listened to the audiobook because it was the only copy I could get my hands on, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover it's full-cast and produced with relevant background noise that made each poem feel a bit like an oral history captured on-site.
December 21, 2024
Although I read several poems from this collection when in college, this is the first time I've checked out the audio book. The numerous voices and sounds enhance the poems so much. This is like a living history event. Well done! to the audio book producers and those who had a hand in bringing this important literature to life. If I were still teaching high school, I would definitely make use of this audio book with students to help students feel the history and literary merit of this work.
May 29, 2023
I listened to this as a full cast audiobook all in one day as I was ferrying my daughter around for her dance recital. The poems were all written by one person, but in the "voice" of a variety of people. So there were stories from the perspective of children, university students, a whole variety of jobs, as well as elderly people. I really enjoyed all the different perspectives, and the poems were very engaging.
January 9, 2020
Must listen to the audio book!! It is so fun filled with characters and sounds of life on the streets of Harlem as if you are interviewing them yourself. These poems are so enjoyable with so many expressive spirits.
June 10, 2020
I read the poems and listened to Harlem. Walter Dean Myers wanted a Harlem equivalent of Spoon River Anthology. I loved listening and learning. I wish I had known more about Walter Dean Myers when I was teaching and learning. He is a remarkable man.
December 19, 2021
Beautifully-written verse brings the setting to life. I listened to the audiobook version, which I really recommend if possible. Hearing the poetry out loud with the full cast of voices was an amazing experience!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 112 reviews