Young Mind
By: Tyree Jackson
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
I.
Get rid of that gun you have so tightly
in your hand and hold this pen.
Allow that pen to be friends with
your mind, because in time it will sketch
your thoughts on the clouds.
II.
Get rid of that weed and open
your eyes to the book you can now see.
That fluttering book going from tree
to tree wants to preserve your voice within
every passage you read.
III.
Sit down my child so that your mind
can feed—on every noun, verb, and
adjective you can find from that book’s page,
because even though you’re surrounded
by drugs, guns, and gangs, that doesn’t
mean that you should be the same.
Comments
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ambercurry37
Awesome poem, Tyree. You always write such beautiful words. I like the message behind this poem, too. I've been trying to find a way to deter the youth in my community from being apart of the drug/gang world and to use their minds instead to further their education and make something of themselves. These kids that are getting caught up in that nonsense are getting younger and younger and it's really sad to see. If only they could put their words to good use and write some inspiring poetry, huh? Great job. :)
Tieeeesh
omiigosh i loved this poem, such a positive message and quite inspiring. i really loved the line, "allow that pen to be friends with your mind" because thats how i feel about writing. its like you start out with a pen and a blank piece of paper but then you can find like comfort and solace through that and the fact that you can use it to create something great and relatable. superawesome poem:)
anirudhrs7
well its really amazing , the use of the poetic words at the right place , seriously speakin u hv given a wonderfull inner meaning to it
cheers ! ! . . :-)