Incident

By Countee Cullen

Once riding in old Baltimore,

    Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a Baltimorean

    Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,

    And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

    His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore

    From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

    That's all that I remember.

I chose this poem because it wasn't

like any other poems i read. It was

more like a short story of his experience.
I especially think the last line,
"Thats all that i remember:" 
is shocking. When he went to this place,
the only thing he can remember is about
a racial remark someone had told him,
and he was only eight. 
I really like this poem because its a short poem,
but the message is sent out clear. 


Im can't find a clear Harlem renaissance theme, but 
I would say anger at racism.
Cullen wrote
"I saw a Baltimorean Keep looking straight at me."
and 
"And so i smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me,
'nigger' " 
This shows how the person was being really 
rude, and racists. And by Cullen pointing out that,
that was the only thing he remembered, it shows
how much anger he had towards those 
racists remarks.