Banjo playin’ and de sanded floor,
Fiddle cryin’, always callin’ more,
People’s faces lookin’ scared an’ white,
Hands a clappin’ an’ eyes starin’ bright.
Can’t help dancin’ though de candle’s dyin’,
Can’t help dancin’ while de fiddle’s cryin’;
Got—ter—keep—dancin’, can’t—stop—now,
Got—ter—keep—dancin’,—I—doan—know—how!
Lola Ridge
Lola Ridge was born in Dublin, Ireland, leaving there in infancy and spending her childhood in Sydney, Australia. After living some years in New Zealand, she returned to Australia to study art. In 1907, she came to the United States, supporting herself for three years by writing fiction for the popular magazines. She stopped this work only, as she says, “because I found I would have to do so if I wished to survive as an artist.” For several years she earned her living in a variety of ways—as organizer for an educational movement, as advertisement writer, as illustrator, artist’s model, factory-worker, etc. In 1918, The New Republic published her long poem The Ghetto and Miss Ridge, until then totally unknown, became the “discovery” of the year.