Spring begins shyly
With one hairpin of green grass
In a flower pot.

~ Richard Wright

About the Writer

Richard Wright (1908-1960) is regarded as one of the preeminent novelists and essayists of the 20th century, noted for writings that depict the harsh realities of life for Black Americans in the South. Born in Mississippi, the son of an illiterate sharecropper and a schoolteacher, he moved to France permanently in 1947, guided by the intolerable racism he faced in the United States. Wright was also a notable poet. At the end of his life, he wrote an estimated 4,000 haiku, many infused with deep philosophical meanings such as the featured poem. Wright died in Paris. His posthumous collection, Haiku: This Other World was republished as Haiku: The Last Poems of Richard Wright in 2012.