My mother taught me purple?

Question

I first read this poem when I was about 9 and kept a copy with me everywhere until I was in my early 20's and seemed to have lost and forgotten it. I can only rememeber some of it and can't remember the aurthors name.

Answer 1

Evelyn Tooley Hunt, Class of '26, Hobart

Originator of American style of Haiku; Her poem Taught Me Purple was the inspiration for the book "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker

Hunt was a poet, author and writer recognized as the originator of the American style of Haiku. She is the author of five poetry collections including Look Again Adam (1962), Toad Song (1966), The Haiku of Tao-Li, and Dancer in the Wind (1977). Her work has been published in more than 40 anthologies and high school textbooks.

Her poem “Taught Me Purple” was the inspiration for the book The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, which was later made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey and directed by Steven Spielberg. Hunt was the recipient of the Florida Pen Woman of the Year Award, and is the 1962 recipient of the Sydney Lanier Memorial Award in American Poetry.

Hunt passed away on January 25, 1997.

My Mother Taught Me Purple
My mother taught me purple
Although she never wore it.
Wash-gray was her circle,
The tenement her orbit.
My mother taught me golden
And held me up to see it,
Above the broken molding,
Beyond the filthy street.
My mother reached for beauty
And for its lack she died,
Who knew so much of duty
She could not teach me pride.

Answer 2

You can find the poem on the web. It's by Evelyn Tooley Hunt.

Answer 3

Try this site:

http://www.hws.edu/alumni/remarkable/displaynotablealum.asp?notablealumid=27

Hope this helps!