A Witty Holiday Greeting For Struggling Writers To Send Friends

Langston Hughes wrote it when he was a broke poet and author — and it’s genius

Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

What do you do at Christmas if you’re a writer short on cash but long on warm friendships? For the poet Langston Hughes, the answer was to give the gift of his wit.

In 1941 Hughes began to donate his papers to Yale University, and after he died, his estate added to the collection.

Some of its treasures were exhibited in December 2017 by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale, which contains his archives. Those papers include the typescript of a postcard Hughes wrote during the 1950 Christmas season. The card says above his handwritten signature:

“IF TIMES WERE NOT SO DOGGONE HARD

“I MIGHT SEND YOU A GIFT.

“BUT SINCE I’M BROKE AS BROKE CAN BE,

“HERE’S JUST A CHRISTMAS LIFT:

“MERRY,

“MERRY,

“CHRISTMAS!”

Langston Hughes / Credit: Bill of Rights Institute