Character guide

Unknown

major

Also known as me, I'se, Ai, Myself, mine, yo

This shifting first-person voice is less a fixed person than a way of seeing: it rides elevators in Jersey, waits out a Taos rainstorm, and counts the miles between home and the North. Its deepest tension is between the dream of sunlight and the weary reality of cold streets and lost wages. That ache — hopeful, bruised, and unsentimental — is the pulse that carries the reader through the collection's early and middle poems.

Cora

supporting

Also known as Corinne Ann, Corrine, Anne

Cora drifts through the verses as the 'she' in a house in Taos and the 'gal' who took a good boy's money and nearly his mind. She is both desired and elusive, a figure whose tenderness and betrayal blur together. Her importance lies in what she leaves behind: the speaker's weariness, his suspicion of love, and the quiet grief that colors so many of the blues-inflected poems.

Ma Lord

supporting

Also known as Ma Lord ai n't no stuck up man

Ma Lord is less a character than a confidant, invoked in the blues and spiritual registers where the speaker pours out his exhaustion and hope. The phrase 'ain't no stuck up man' insists on a God who walks among elevator boys and wash-women rather than above them. That intimacy — divine and down-home at once — anchors the collection's spiritual undertow and gives the weary speaker somewhere to put his weariness.

Pierrot

supporting

Pierrot is the sad clown of the collection, a figure of rejected love and theatrical melancholy who steps out of the commedia tradition and into Harlem. His grief is stylized but real: he has been unloved, and his response is to go looking again, half performer and half supplicant. He matters because he gives the book a self-aware mask for heartbreak — a way to sing about sorrow without drowning in it.

Aunt Sue

supporting

Also known as Sue

Aunt Sue is the keeper of oral tradition, the aunt who has 'known high wind-swept mountains' and passes down what she has seen. Her voice is warm, patient, and rooted in the everyday — rain on the roof, a wash-woman's bundle, the smell of Thanksgiving. She matters because she embodies the collection's faith that stories, told by loving hands, can hold a community together across distance and hardship.

Willy

minor

Also known as a Vanquished Beau Willy

A lovelorn young man lamenting a lost romance.

Gypsy Man

minor

Also known as Gypsy, ma

A wandering, romantic figure appearing in poems about love and travel.

Mona

minor

A woman addressed in a poem titled after her, likely a lover or muse.

Ma Jesus

minor

Also known as Ma old time daddy

A colloquial, affectionate reference to Jesus or a father figure in spiritual poems.

Fascination

minor

A personified concept of allure and captivation in a poem.

Ruby Brown

minor

Also known as herself

A woman whose story is told in a poem about urban life and temptation.

Baby Albert

minor

Also known as Albert

A child figure mentioned in a poem about innocence or loss.

Death

supporting

Death appears in these poems not as a monster but as a restful end, the 'deep, long sleep' that promises nothingness after a life of weariness. It stands at the golden door of the last feast and lingers behind the shadows the speaker begs to escape. Its importance is tonal: it gives the collection its undertow of mortality, making every dance, every kiss, and every dream feel both urgent and fleeting.

Young Sailor

minor

A youthful seafarer appearing in a poem about longing or adventure.

Daddy

minor

Also known as Hard Daddy

A stern or beloved father figure in blues and family poems.

Beauty

minor

A personified ideal of beauty, addressed in several poems.

John

minor

Also known as Said Simple John, Simple John

A simple, wise man who speaks in a poem about life and truth.

Jesus

minor

Also known as Lord Jesus

The central Christian figure, invoked in prayers and spiritual poems.

Wise Men

minor

Biblical magi or sages referenced in a poem about wisdom.

Sun

minor

The personified sun, addressed in poems about warmth and life.

Lawd

minor

A colloquial address to God in spiritual or blues poems.

Fairies

minor

Also known as their

Magical beings appearing in a poem about childhood or fantasy.

Mary

minor

Also known as Mary Jane

A woman addressed in poems about love or daily life.

Misery

minor

Also known as ma

Personified sorrow, addressed in blues poems.

Anne Spencer

minor

A real-life poet and friend, honored in a poem about her table.

Mister Sandman

minor

Also known as The Sandman, the Sandman

A mythical figure who brings dreams, appearing in a poem of the same name.

Joy

minor

An abstract personification of happiness, addressed in several poems.

Evil Woman

minor

A woman characterized as malicious or unfaithful in a blues poem.

Susanna Jones

minor

Also known as Jones

A woman celebrated in a poem for her beauty and grace.

Clorinda

minor

A woman who speaks in a poem, possibly a lover or friend.

Hound dawg

minor

A dog mentioned in a blues poem, symbolizing loyalty or trouble.

Liza

minor

A woman named in a poem, likely a lover or companion.