Explode?

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes, Harlem

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about deferred dreams. Personal dreams that have been disrupted, professional dreams that have been set aside for the time being, artistic dreams that are put off due to lack of inspiration or motivation...

I’ve also been spending time thinking about all the dreams that I directly defer through my own lack of motivation, lack of will, etc.

But what I have been considering for a few weeks now are all the ways that I defer my own dreams by focusing on what is lacking, rather than the progression.

I focused my senior thesis on Langston Hughes’ poetry produced during the Harlem Renaissance, this poem in particular. What I failed to notice then were all the ways in which Hughes addresses the effects of time within the poem.

A grape does not become a raisin immediately, it takes some time in a specific environment. It’s the environment that is important here. The commonalities shared between the raisin, the sore, the meat, and the sweet is that they are all left in an environment where they are neglected and made worse through that neglect.

Similarly, a dream, depending on the size, cannot always be realized in one day or moment. If you dream of writing a novel, it will probably take you more than 24 hours of work to complete. Dreams are fickle! You’ve got to do the work! And it might not always feel like you’re making progress - or doing anything, really - but if Fräulein Maria and Captain Von Trap has taught me anything, it’s that “nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.”

It’s about the work. It’s about showing up day after day and saying, “today I will do a little better, work a little more towards my dreams, work with my dreams.”

The only thing that will be achieved if we push away our dreams or ignore any progression is that neglect will become easier and easier, and before we know it, we are staring at a pile of rotting meat or a festering sore, and nothing will have come from nothing. No work, no reward.

Alternatively, let’s have a look at the last line of the poem, “or does it explode?”

In order to have anything explode, it first needs a spark and a fuse. And then, for the fuse to carry the spark along, the whole fuse must be ready. If at any point the fuse is wet, for example, the spark will go out. Only when the whole fuse is ready and willing to pass the spark from one section to the next can there be ignition.

We can see this spark as the work, and therefore the progress, the opposite of lack.

Sometimes the dream is not deferred at all but necessitates a longer fuse. The dream may seem deferred because it might not be realized in your lifetime, but there is still work being done on that fuse.

There has been a composite of three images circulating the internet highlighting Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, and Kamala Harris with the caption, “Rosa sat, so Ruby could walk, so Kamala could run.” It’s a beautiful statement because it acknowledges the history - the fuse that carried the spark along to ensure the ignition. And yet there’s still work to be done. This is not singular, but collective, the collective spoke for Biden and Harris. They stand elect today because of the dream the collective believed in and helped carry to fruition.

The progress of one means the progress of many, of generations that were, and generations to come. Rosa had to stand on the foundation set by of generations of nameless ancestors to sit on that bus, just as Ruby did after her, and Kamala has done now.

Someday, hopefully in the not so distant future, some woman will stand on the foundation laid by Kamala. I do not believe this is the explosion. Not yet. We’ve got a bit more glass ceiling to shatter that will need a real explosion.

So, what happens to a dream deferred? What will you do with your dream? Can you realize it alone or do you need help carrying the spark?