Equality
Learn more about other poetry terms
If you stand strongly with and for Liberty
I will fearlessly join you
If you stand firmly for Freedom
Mom why do you treat me different?
I’m so confused,
I’m the one that helps you
Not to say I’m self entitled to your love but rather genuinely confused
Woman, woman, oh sweet womanMy love, my crib, my tokenIn my daily diaryEvery day is your journeyYou are my soul, my pillarI cherish you everydayAnd I love you, my flower.
Societies that value women and men are safer and healthier
Before that "What is gender equality?"
Gender equality is achieved when all genders enjoy the same
rights and opportunities accross sector of society
You are nobody
As I am nobody
You are somebody
As I am somebody
There’s one humanity
Let’s thank God and Jesse
Girls must have the undeniable rights to speak,And the God-given rights to choose and pick.Girls must have the rights to be educated,To be respected and to be protected.Girls are human beings too;
Be not afraidTo fight the right fightsThe hate, the hatredTo regain your rightsTo end bigotry, racismFascism and nepotism.
♡
Bon appétit to all my fellow Haitians and friends,Who will be drinking, sipping, savoring soup joumou,Which is made of squash, neck bones, macaroni, oxtails,Carrots, yams, celery, parsley, and countless vegetables.
So many colored faces in a crowd
set in 1960s
apartheid.
There was beats and poets
that rang and sang
of being black.
The stars could burn your hair off.
Today I feel griefUnlike any otherMy country has fallen In hands of angry men My mother weeps For whom I do not yet know Perhaps for my brotherWho fought for change But couldn’t bring it
I’m exhausted by the grief
And drained by this place
This place that once held promise
This world that once had values
Or perhaps it never did
Black,
White.
Muslim,
Christian.
Rich,
Poor.
We are covered in labels,
And drowning in sterotypes.
We can't break free,
From the painful lies.
My skin is white,
My cell phone rang non-stop, and I had barely woken up. I looked at the calendar on March 8, an ephemeral day.
We need to stop laying low.
Patiently waiting for change that
ain't gonna happen unless we
are the change.
We are the change, the new
generation
To come together and make the world better
Standing together
strong as leather
never better
no matter the weather
we stand as one
the fights just begun
Standing together
strong as leather
never better
no matter the weather
we stand as one
the fights just begun
Logical yet Philosophical
Love to be heard, not just merely a word
Especially during these troubling times
While we are wearing a mask to hide our beautiful faces.
Bureaucratic liars hand out commands
Empty-headed sheep obey
Free-thinkers get shot by men in blue
Are men from Mars, women from Venus?
A woman aims to improve a man
But a man only wants acceptance
A man for motivation must feel needed
But a woman too must feel cherished
We once were not free.
Free as others could be.
Free to walk.
Free to talk.
While we were pickin’ and pluckin’,
they were watching like a hawk.
Honestly, people. Come on.
No-one is better than anyone else.
We all have something
That makes us special.
It's our differences that
Make us beautiful.
How boring would it be if
So James Baldwin’s Words Would Appear To Be FACT...
If You’re Creative And Black And Are Down With The Alphabet Gender Pack... !!!
You’ll Get FAST Tracked Into... Earning Cash...
I'm driving the speed limit, car clean, I'm clean, everything is up to date
But I'm still stopped by the law I put my hands on the steering wheel
"Officer why am I being stopped?" "I ask the questions" (aggressive)
Your knee is on my neck
Hands handcuffed behind my back
I'm on the ground
I'm cooperating
Because their was a gun
Our black Americans are dying
Left and right everyday of the month
Just because he looks like your suspect
doesn't mean he was Making an arrest
off of suspension no proof
We are many shades of color.
We carry the most fear.
The guilt in the elimination of those who are us of coloured.
You will never know.
Mercifully you will never feel that tremendous traumatic terror on your heart.
You should never be held at gunpoint for false accusations.
Yup... I'm THAT GUY Who Uses Rhymes ...
And Words To UNITE Like Day Does Night... !!!
Cos I'm The LYRICAL KING To Diana's PRINCE... !!!
Yes A WONDER MAN Whose Pen COMMANDS...
Respect That's........ GRAND ....... !!!
I grew excited as they built me
Because the men, they would talk
Of the grand place I would be.
For the Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave
They made me, Lady Liberty.
Women are equal,
Just as men,
But when men need help,
They ask another man
A women can do
Anything a man can do
But some men
Who left the tap on?
When his building storm spills out,She is made to carry the overflow
He refuses to call a plumberAnd there’s only so much flooding this room can take
I used to believe that this world was fair
That equality was everywhere, didn’t know it was rare
I was naive to believe that people are good
Who is it?
Is it the mail carrier?
The bank teller?
The dentist?
The Chrisitian?
The news reporter?
The artist?
The Buddhist?
The construction worker?
The bartender?
Who is it?
Is it the mail carrier?
The bank teller?
The dentist?
The Chrisitian?
The news reporter?
The artist?
The Buddhist?
The construction worker?
The bartender?
One day I looked up and saw the sun
Shining it’s brightest yellow
The sun said to me, “Am I amazing, sweet, glorious child?”
I turned and said
Buildings of blue
Reflecting the sunlight,
Like brothers and sisters
Competing in height.
Indian, Chinese, Mediterranean,
A variety of cuisines.
The CN Tower and Rogers Centre stadium.
A chick stands for the first time,
Tall and poised, at the edge of the sea cliff.
The salty wind ruffles her feathers comfortingly.
red, white, and blue
what does this mean to you?
parades and pride,
a country you take in stride.
that's what the colors should do for you.
The Shoes of a Man’s Wife
Loving you was so hard to do
But leaving you would break me in two
So what am I to do
Oh Sweet Jesus,
This one Literally tares me to pieces
w/ all the factitious reasons
Of faceitious believing.
And all for No Good Reason.
And There Reason Being,
They tried to Destroy what we believe in...
What if we all walked with our eyes closed?
Would we lose our social standards or would we find new ways to call each other ugly?
Would our skin tone still be juxtaposed?
Have you ever felt a knife cut
From your neck down to your ribcage
Almost piercing your heart
And it feels like you're being pulled apart
When in fact
This may very well save your life
We believe if we were to confess what we believe
Everything we ever knew and loved... we would be free
Arm in arm, carefree as can be
Reminiscing about our life before and what we would do
Hey.
I'm Benz.
I changed my name when I was fifteen,
I'm many things.
Buddhist, retired emo, a little bit of a stoner.
I'm a little hipster,
a little grunge,
and little spacey,
The godess Athena used to spend her time helping soilders win battles, now she's in the front line herself. However, you won't find her on your traditional battle field. Instead, she's leading a march fighting for womens rights.
Girls go to college
for knowledge, apparently
knowledge brings power
This world today is a tangled mess of opinions and hate and opinions and wait. Stepping outside is like stepping into a court room except both sides of the room are calling me guilty.
Dearly beloved,
We are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses
To address the issues of the political injustice in our country.
If you go outside
You will hear the sounds of a country
A country that used to be a place of refuge
That is now becoming the opposite
Paint me a world where girls sustain from mirrors, where love is not weakness, and forgiveness is not taken for blame.
Disclaimer: Before reading this piece, I want you to know
these are not my own values and beliefs but the beliefs of men
who indulge in toxic masculinity and stupidity on a daily basis.
Thank you for your time.
•
she who has the pussy makes the cashshe who makes the cash holds the gun. she who holds the gun pulls the trigger. she who pulled the trigger had to run. and she keeps on runnin...
On the water there
A petal breaks the silence, suddenly submerged lungs aching for breath,
alone,
more words tumble from the mouth.
Mirror, mirror,
As I speak to you
the petal finds a break
On the water there
A petal breaks the silence, suddenly submerged lungs aching for breath,
alone,
more words tumble from the mouth.
Mirror, mirror,
As I speak to you
the petal finds a break
The Streets are my teacher
I've learned so much than what I could learn in a classroom
Next thing 20 years down the line I'll be cleaning up people's room
Thanks streets taught me how to make living
Dear girl I used to be…I’m sorry.I’m sorry for the lies, I’m sorry for making you put on that disguiseA fake smile, a fake face, a fake body and a fake placeIn this world, telling you what you needed to be
they ask how i can know
for sure i like girls
as if it is a question up for debate
like you would choose this life
just to experience the hate and
the pressure and the pain
they ask how i can know
for sure i like girls
as if it is a question up for debate
like you would choose this life
just to experience the hate and
the pressure and the pain
Something new or that one thing daily
Nobody can ever guess what the day will hold
As humans we can either stay to what we know
Something new or that one thing daily
Nobody can ever guess what the day will hold
As humans we can either stay to what we know
PRESENTING:
"Technological Habits."
Paid in part by the subliminal masses.
(OFF MIC)
"We could start by listing all the reasons why we can't have this.
For instance,
Class.
I flick a cig and it lands on a leaf,
Burns to the ground and spins my beliefs,
Here is where I see a glimpse of hope,
A visual summary.
Time and time again,
I see this reflection,
Standing at the top of this hill,
I sit, stand, and laugh at hell,
Thinking,
"What a perfect reflection we see of ourselves."
With respect,
"I know it may seem cold to say just what I see,
This here, in my hands, is nothing more than an hour glass.
Time paves each grain of sand and marks the hours pass.
As each grain stumbles through a maze of consciousness,
It begins to identify itself with the others.
When I think about this world, my brows become furled.
When I think about this society, I get anxiety.
When I think about my country, it seems crumbly.
When I think about my community, I see disunity.
at our core we are about love and relationship
we long to be fought for and protected
to never feel disregarded
but that has not been the truth
for many
for a long time
Protest is a complicated word,
defined as people making their voices heard.
We are encouraged to protest for what we believe,
however no one ever seems to concede.
We are told to work together to make a change,
I am an activist because women have no say, because kids think abuse is normal, because suicide is a game; a twisted version of a competition where killing yourself is a form of entertainment.
The hate others give is subtle like a gentle breeze
or strong and powerful like a hurricane
It can destroy lives, reputations
It can leave bruises and scars
It affects and changes lives
Too many lives lost,
Haunting, howling, crying, wailing...the voices of our ancestors.
Understand this, my brothers and sisters:
When I look around and see
Death and destruction following,
It's then, I wonder what's the beef?
We're all the same inside.
Brown, black, yellow, and white
are colors that tend to identify,
When will the time come when we can look at each other without judging? There is so much going on that we do not see all of the important things being tucked away under the sheets.
Once there was a kid
He was so lost in the world
He did not understand the unspoken rules
He did not know why people looked at him funny
Or why females clutched their purses while he walked by
Regardless of:
what we look like,
what we wear,
who we choose to love with care
We must come together on what makes us the same
misinterpreted by social context and ignorance overlooked and shunned
its brilliance is all too commonly mistaken for hate feared by those who are weak
but if you could just open your eyes and truly see
I’m going to tell you a story
But bare with me
Because it’s one I’ve heard so many times
That the chapters bleed together
Again and again and again and again.
Every two steps forward is one step back
People fight until they’re no longer standing,
And no one stops to help them up.
Men have to be strong and can't show weakness they say
Real men do cry and yes they do feel pain
Hold your head high and don't be a little bitch
He also can feel used and hurt like shit
My fight does not stem from the desire to overpower
My fight stems from my roots embedded in the rich earth of my motherland
My struggle stems from the recognition that evil will always exist if good stays silent
She wants to fly higher like he do
She wants to touch the sky like he do
She wants to be famous as he is
She wants to be brave as he is
Share with me this moment.
As we lock hands, we take flight.
As we lock hands, we take control.
If only for this moment we share a fate.
If only for this moment we share a fate.
We are Life
And
We are Death
And
We are
Swelling with
Wet leaves burdening our hollowed bones
From growth of generations
Harnessed against the
Oh so necessary, systems
Igniting the fire of love,
Was never taught.
We are all just bound by the sky,
Tryin' to find infinities that might bless the soul.
When I was a little girl
I was told to be a princess
I was told to fix my hair
Paint my nails
and wear fancy shoes
I tried to like what I was told to do
And strained my face
and pulled my hair
Why am I the easy one when you too, were in the act?
Why does my vagina limit me, to every single terrible thing just associated with sex?
Why can’t a girl want sex, and not be a hoe?
But he can want sex and get cheers?
She is a man
She has strong arms, strong legs
Nothing sensitive, and a tough chest
I wish I could, but I cannot rest
She is still a woman
What is freedom?
Is it the brainchild of purpose?
The essence of existence
A false reality made by unfathomable content
Freedom squirms in the antagonized grasp,
We all are pizzas
like the different toppings
pizza is served in different parts of the world and they all come i different shapes and sizes
then how come we all have one name Pizza
Everybody has different eyes
Everybody views things differently
So how can we be in the same world,
the same time,
the same town,
but see different things
We were raised differently
I am a slut
And I refuse to believe that
Women have a right to their bodies
I realize this may be a shock, but
Saying “Don’t Get Raped,” rather than “Don’t Rape”
Is a lie, and
A porcelain girl inside this world is trapped with hate but filled with love.
All is against her, for the light is pure and good
The dark is death and evil.
I want to find the words
The words to explain
explain how I feel
as a kid today
You try to listen
The first time I was catcalled I was 14 years old, wide-eyed and terrifiedRiding my bike home in the cold,My suburban oasis was merely a mirage
Dear You (yes, YOU, reading this),
when they write us down in history, what is left to remember us by?
will it be the rumble of our cars passing by? spewing posionus gasses that will fill our infant's eyes.
ah, look at you.
you’re a plum pit to me,
a cratered seed of stability
amidst rotting flesh,
the nectar of bee stings
rolling off you
I go around whispers in my back
like if I didn’t have a face
they could come and say
the words that torment their brain,
I guess I’m not perfect
and I make mistakes
but if you have anything to say
We are not less than
We are your equals
We are not your captives
We are not your vassals
Dear Women of the 20th Century,
Women you are stronger then this
Women don’t let men down-size you
When you have all the qualifications but they turn you away
Be soft as a rock
Much is wrong with our society,
Treating people like scum,
This causes some to turn to anarchy,
But choas without purpose is dumb.
We all have a lesson to learn,
Unity is the way to peace,
Ich habe aber man wünsch.
Es ist freiheit für jeden.
Leider, dass kann nicht.
Es tut mir leid, meinen Freunden.
Ich kann nicht für dich tun.
Wir haben alles tun es mit, aber wir nicht einsatz.
(Thy lovely lasses unwittingly unstintingly unexpectedly taught me selflessness) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Every Holiday time each year, a rocketing increase asperdoling out Uriah Heap ping largesse imposed upon eachc
Dear White People,Born to love and not to hate.I see a goal that’s not up for debate.Growth is nothing but and allusion, When all you do is jump to conclusion.Hung, beaten, separated, shot!Just as long as I didn't take your spot.Intimidated and th
I wish labels were for clothes and
Segregation of colors remained in boxes of crayons
That little children used to color their hopes and dreams
On a blank canvas of the unknown.
Pretty
Skinny
Perfect
words that society chooses for us
You say
I run like a girl,
scream like a girl,
Pretty
Skinny
Perfect
words that society chooses for us
You say
I run like a girl,
scream like a girl,
Dreams Of Tomorrow
I have a dream, do you?
No matter the hardship I still have a dream
I have a dream of white and blacks holding hands together, do you?
Hurt and abusedLost and confusedFeeling accused, just by being you.The color of your skin does not define youThe length of your dreads does not disguise you. The way that you walk does not deprive youBut the way that your heart is will arise you.
Do not judge me.
Do not judge me by my skin.
Do not judge me by my eyes.
For I let those words sink in,
those painful lies.
Do not judge me by my clothes.
Do not judge me by my ability.
Dear high schools across America
I just wanted you to see my perfectly round, slender shoulder
Partnership
The touch of your hand
Slides down my cheek’s end
Sweet, tender romance
From day break to night's end
Because I love you,
You love me more.
Because I love you,
I show you support.
Because I love you,
We are honest.
Memories wrapped around clots and strands
Of hair oft described as gold, by those forgetting
Its bearer led a life
Best described as wing-clipped.
Thigh-length, some days shining, others matted
Once upon a time...There lived a beautiful blonde babyWith skin kissed by the sun Her black is more beautiful than goldAs the story
I wish I didn't know that dandelions were weeds
That fairies don't live among the trees
I wish I didn't know that people can't fly
That time passes by and by
That we grow
That we age
Mirror Mirror standing tall,
Revealed through cracks all the flaws,
And in a snap the request was granted with a zap,
Everyone's flaws, all but one,
You know......
It's f*cked up when you realize that every adjective that describes you has to be justified and equalized through a movement.
From women's rights, to civil rights, and gay rights,
The Princess and the Peace
By Sophia de Castro
Once upon a time,
There was a princess
Who dreamt of the day she would sleep peacefully,
Unbothered by the peas underneath her mattress.
Once upon a time
When knights in armor shined
There waited a young princess
Who had many hobbies and interests
Yet at the very thought of marriage, she felt herself grow distant
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the world had equality?
If we all had choices and freedom?
Now I know what some of you are going to say
Going to preach
Going to cry
We are equal
But I disagree
My mother got me pepper spray for Christmas and at the time I scoffed. She told me she just wants me to be safe and I asked what from; she just gave me THAT LOOK. Every time I go running I strap it to my arm.
I was always jealous of her clothing.
Not because of what she wore,
But due to the magic in her protective red.
Her pale complexion
I think we f o r g e t.
We forget to face the reality of living
Because we don't want to remember that there is death,
destruction
starvation
fear
hatred
intolerance.
Since when did Princess
mean damsel in distress?
Since when did beauty
become our strict standard?
Since when did worth
correlate to marriage?
I am intelligent
When I say "homeless," what do you see?
Someone dressed in dirty clothes, out on the street?
Someone with a cup, asking for change so they can eat?
Someone who struggles to get back on their feet?
Whatever your beliefs.
Atoms colliding or Adam and Eve.
We should thank the architect for the greatest design.
Chemistry, biological or divine.
Believe what you will, nobody can deny.
What if white were black and black were white,
What if night were day and day were night.
Would things stay the same
Or would they suddenly change?
You see, it's all about the meaning, not about the name.
People say "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
Who says a princess needs a prince to save her?
Just know you don't need a man
to get through life
It was the beginning of the weather,
The sun shone through the leaves,
A fair maiden sat upon her bench,
With a stare of many greaves.
By the end of summer,
Her father wanted her wed,
America the great,
oh yeah? If it's so great then why did we vote a president who hates
He hates on the coloured,
He hates on the women,
Heck, he even hates Americans.
No ill words of disrespect shall part my lips about my mother
For her land has raised me well
Her morals carved in my soul
But yet I hope
Living under the 50 stars,
Hoping and searching for the American Dream,
A nice family with a nice house with a nice car,
Walking down the street with a soda and some change,
Stop there!
Oh say can you see
America I breathe
Powerful and free
Stop trying to bring us down
The best in the world
But I am only a girl
Am I allowed to dream?
Unity is
Nowhere to be seen.
I only see racism,
The bigotry and prejudice.
Everywhere, there is hatred for
Diversity.
You are Destined for Greatness
you are
destined
for
you were born here and your parents there
you were born on the East Side where red is versus blue
Where
I’m from,
The ocean hugs the coast
And kisses the sky
To remind the sun and
Moon
That it is in charge.
America, the brave?
More like America the Slave.
Founded on the oppression
Of millions, and millions.
Our ideals of freedom are only for those
A nation dedicated
To equality is great.
On paper,
No nation greater.
But if all men are created equal
Method of attack,
Walking while black.
What is your job,
Remove the hijab.
White man's burden,
Forbid the turban.
America's favorite past time,
Make immigrating The Crime.
Abusing, no.
Who would've thought a world like ours could be so mean, demeaning lives for financial stability, who would've thought time could go so fast, eight years seemed to just fly past, it's a shame that making the world great again means depriving all t
Is
This
Not
The
Very
Nation
Built on religion
That goes to elaborate
A clear
Segregation
Between
Church
And
State
And the same country that
America was once something of hope and dreams
A Dream to be whoever you worked hard enough to be and to live in peace and harmony
The country we live in
Where Whites have it all
Its where Blacks are to fall
Where Gays have no place to stay
Its not right It's not fair. But no one seems to care.
o say, can you see the walls rising to isolate us?
by the light of missiles and violence. the problems will turn to ash, ash, ash.
poisoning ash, killing our earth.
what so proudly we hailed as a great change for America.
America is violence.
America is a land, “where all men are created equal”
But what happens when those men are people of color, Islamic, gay, or female.
a sickness is not cured
by wrapping a thin blanket
around the sore throat
that exposes injustice.
a symbol does not hold
more value over a person.
an object that requires a steady wind
They told me that I was the product of hundreds of years of pain and suffering,That from the blood of my ancestors, I was given Eyes the color of mud,Hair like a sheep,The complexion of an ape,An inherent lust,A body that should be covered,A cultu
America was created for all
No matter what size even short or tall
Yet not everyone is treated the same
Throughout the years there has been little to no change
The demand for equality is great
All people are created equal!
Our constitution states it, and so should I.
From north to south and east to west,
Everyone on earth should say it
All people are created equal!
We
Us
Our
Misery
Forever stuck in the mistakes of our histor
Together
We are
Forever
We are
Mistaken
We are
Foolish
We are
A great nation would help our brothers and sisters
they need us more than we can imagine
but instead of allowing our global citizens into our hearts and our homes
we push them further away
Dear Great Again,When were we great?When man felt entitled and empowered by the lack of of decent woman moralsWhen schools were only for white people and blacks were forced to be property
Everyday a child is born,
and everyday a child is taken.
Whether it's from white on black,
or black on black,
a child is taken.
Everyday a child is taken.
In this country we have many freedoms
The freedom to put others down
The freedom to discriminate
The freedom of words that can never be taken back
The freedom to bear arms which is not bad
Finally I've come to this realization
That you've never planned on staying
Even with all of your dedication
I never ever claimed to be a lyrical genius or one who spit words from the top of my cranium that could make you so furious because the truth has the effect to cause major pain in sum.
People are screaming.There are gunshots.What is the meaning? How many are lost? My heart is pounding And I'm in a warm home Sitting comfortably on my bed Staring at my phone.Watching my news feed change From prayers to the crossed. I am stunned,
My skin color is different from yours,
yet we are told we are equal.
Can you see through the Red, White and Blue,
read futher into this novel, this is the Amerikkkan sequel.
Messy, Daylight, Fences
She learned to love her, yes she did
In those few minutes and few weeks
It wasn't love strain'd (maybe Shakespeare'd understand)
And it wsasn't love beow the belt
Everyone talks about how blue the sky was that morning,They talk about the first responders who were quick to help the hurt,About the people who traveled to the golden gates that day About their family members and their friends and all effected,Ab
For men, there is no ceiling to hit, nothing restricting them,
But for women, there is a glass ceiling.
They can see through it, they can see what they could have.
We have a world to win
So stand up with pride
Without women
the world would collapse from the broken stilts on which it stands
I won’t turn on the news when I watch TV
Because I can’t handle the things I know I will see
Instead I watch comedies and try to push them from my mind
Time machines were supposed to be cool
Not for prejudice to take the rule.
Have we reached the end?
Can we make amends?
Trump this. Trump that.
Take off that hat.
We know what your hiding.
A child of an immigrant knows stength,
We see it every day in their eyes.
A child of an immigrant understands courage,
We wouldn't be here without it.
A child of an immigrant is proud,
The land I fly for
is not the land I should fly for.
The land I fly for honors my stripes and stars
but not each other.
The land I fly for
only knows inequality.
We are praised for being independent, strong willed, and educated
But when we rise to fight for the rights of others, told:
“Don’t go burning your bra”
The heterosexual white men of our country are blinded with their star-spangled eyes,
As the rest of us become motivated and brave.
Yes, this may be the “land of the free”,
While I feel that we should remember the past
learn from it
mourn it
grow from it
No one else remembers how.
So we drown
He marches side by side
With the one who cries, "Equality!"
Enraged, they wreck and thrash.
Their lips read, "White trash!"
Across the lane she stands,
Blindfolded to the carnage behind.
Hello,
I’m not a coon or a savage
And I don’t live in the projects or eat chicken and watermelons for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
No, I don’t live on the “block” and sell dope.
Just because I am gayDon’t think I like you, I like hot guysDon’t think I can’t judge women, I am not blindDon’t think I am weak, I am stronger than youJust because I am gayIt doesn’t mean I am not supported, I receive even more support than youIt
Red, White, and Blue. Such beautiful colors that wave high above,
Lately though all I see is Black, White, and Brown.
Funny how three colors can unite us, funny how they divide us.
America the great
where we care more about a kid’s GPA more than their mental health.
where we are driven by money and not dreams.
where the people are lied to, and believe every word.
She wakes up every day
Proud of what she's done
If only she truly knew
What has already begun
She always gets the grades
She always has the drive
If only she knew that her success
Red is for the blood
Red for all those who’ve bled for freedom
White is for nothing
Nothing that anybody has done to ensure the freedom of all
the united statesin a separated stateMinorities vs Majorities brother vs brother separated like oil and vinegar because Liberty and Justice For All only quailifies when your Caucasian father and motherpull 100K a yearno justice for the black boy w
She's a woman, what has she to say?
Truth be told, I could list off every issue, I could tell you all day.
I know how you think, I know how your mind works.
After all, being male has to have its perks.
WE ARE
We are one world,
We are one people.
We are not defined by a race,
We are not defined by a religion.
We are one nation,
The cruelness in a person's judgment, the wrong in their belief
Confusing wrong with right
Bad intentions, hateful thoughts a world with no peace
Humans being beaten, riots unleashed, war started, creating broken families
Roaring through the Purple Mountains Majesty
Comes a thunder deeper than any ocean
And from across the golden fields and valleys
Comes a great people in motion
A deep burn,
An ember in my chest.
You left me, a witch on a stake,
Crackling.
An ember in my chest,
a boiling river, a waterfall of steam.
Crackling
The rage suits me.
Oh America, I love to call you mine.
If I had the courage I would fight for this land.
I feel useless compared to those who give everything for this land.
For this land, I shall become the best person I can be.
America the Brave
America the tarnished
Amerca the ignorant
America the lost
Lost.
Fight for freedom?
Fight for equality?
Fight for Love?
They Steal Black children from their mothers’ hearts
They Changed the meaning of a gun
They Made it a crime to wear a hoodie while being Black
They Use a hashtag to justify murder
I know you heard me when I asked you to stop using that word
I know you heard me when I asked why you speak so hatefully
I know you heard me when I told you to stop acting like it was all my fault
Know Yourself.
This life is not so easy, give time a tog to settle down for a reason.
Realize it is inevitable to swerve out of place, like your first steps made, hardly to keep in pace.
Who are you to judge me
Who are you to convict me of wrongdoing
Who are you?
A question with no answer
Who are you to judge me
Don’t tell me what I am meant to wantDon’t limit me to your brain’s capacitySociety was only made to flauntthe very flaws within societyA culture built on fear and hateWhat other outcome could be in store?A woman’s job is it sit and waitAny more t
My skin. Look at my skin. What am I? I am a mixed girl in a obscure world. When I would play on the playground. Small, this high, my wide eyes didn’t yet recognize the lies.
I am
A woman
Belittled
Degraded
Insignificant
The consequences of my
Gender
I watch white
wealthy
middle-aged
men
in stiff suits
pick and chose
can't we scatter our love like seeds in the spring and watch them grow and hear the birds singing and as the passer-by smells newborn fruit it will give them a reason to follow suit. can't the love we accept be the love we give? the hungry
Women are taught from the day we are tiny bundles in our mother’s arms that our bodies are nothing but pocket change for man to squander.
“Don’t talk too loudly.
Don’t hunch your shoulders.
Womanhood --
Coming up in me, about to burst like a hot spring.
When you're told, told all of the time that you can't --
That you can't shatter or break out of that "bell jar".
"You should smile more," he says
I remain silent, now on edge, awakened
I pray my silence will be matched in return
Unfortunately for me, I am quite mistaken
"C'mon sweetie, why don't you smile for me?"
As children we are taught monsters aren't real
But if they don't exist explain the fear I feel
When I walk down the hallway or sit in the park
I'm not afriad of the monsters in the dark
Love is such a broad term
Heart ache
Heart break
Heartburn
So many of the people in this world are filled with love,
High school and college became stressful and I began to doubt myself
We got a new president and as a minority I began to fear the future, itself
Awareness is a word in which we tend to agree, something that inspires us to set the lost people free. We listen to the presentations, see the kids suffering from malnutrition, the hunger in their eyes, the bloated bellies.
Straight lines, straight letters, straight figures- how uptight. Curved symbols, curved numbers, curved people- now that's not right. I'm a straight line, or a curved number, maybe just bent? The realization, the notification, the mental places I
I'm angry
I have no idea why the fuck why, but if I did, I'd do something about it
I'm angry
If I knew why the hell I was angry I'd tell you. But I don't, so I won't, because I can't
I'm angry
I love how your hand fits in mine, I love how your smile can light up a room, I love how your eyes shine in the sun light, I love when your Eyes meet mine. You are the Ronald to my Hermine.
78 I never thought you could change. You're 78. You're stuck in many of your ways, but one day you changed, it all started with a girl named Emily. Seventh grade, my first ever crush on someone that I couldn't shake or ignore.
Can you see fire in an empty cave?
For all its dwellers now swarm
My home, gun-ho towards
All who have a voice.
At least they did...
I can see a mirror in the past,
I need a place
A safe place
A silent place
A peaceful place
A building where I can march up to a urinal and piss like nobody's watching
We say land of the free home of the brave,
but how is it so free if we are still living like slaves.
Not physically but mentally we are bound by a country that continues to kncok us down.
So many deaths
From disease - war -
Starvation - abuse.
So many tragedies
In Hiroshima - Columbine -
Paris - Boston.
A moment of silence
On 9/11 - Rememberance Day -
As I toss and turn dreading my alarm sound, I think.
If these were my ancestors, they'll be up in a blink.
See they couldn't get an education or they'd end up dead.
I said, "How long will it take?"
I mean, we've seen the same mistakes
Ain't it crazy after all this
We're still waiting for change
And the faces are the same
The pain, it still remains
Shot at, choked, and hung
All of the above
Brought about the young
Spreading hate, instead of love
Spat on and discriminated
I breathe my own fumes, lying up late at night in subtle hope for a change of pace
Fumes of body odor and cigarettes
Menthol and blue collar work for no pay
She asks me, Quieres café?
And I respond you are too sweet.
Too sweet to the point that I don’t have to take a sip from this Colombian coffee
Because you helped me rise when I fell deep and saw nothing but fake images.
Girls, by definition,
Are female children
And females, by design, they
Have a vagina
Some white guy cooked up the idea that Americans bleed red, white and blueFrankly speaking, that just isn't true.I've seen so many Americans bleed,On the Internet, on tvAnd let me tell you there's red in the streets
1,2,3,4How many gunshots moreHard to trust anyone in a blue uniformThey hold off on telling us what we did wrongBut swears to the judge we've been informedI feel unsafe in my streetsI fear a white boogie man strangling me in the sheetsI'm scared m
At first glance, I saw the world as a new pair of glasses, As things move forward,And time moves past us, I mature to see all the little scratches, So bad I'm unsure how we've lasted this long, With a beef between race and class so strong, I see h
got up just an hour ago Kissed my kids and wife goodbye I grabbed my gun, put on my badge And walked on outside I drove to work with lack of sleepFrom working Overtime But working late I didn't mind Because I'm saving lives I walked into the stat
do you see her?
a girl trying to survive
this world carrying opinions of
her race and gender
on her back?
do you see him?
Some believe the brave to be bountiful warriars, However I believe the word "Brave" to be a common misconception. I think it of it as "A dual sided coin." My reason in doing so is because of it's counter-part being "Broken".
Poetry is words that need to be said
It is words trying to escape
Poetry is strength when all courage has fled
It is words spoken
Poetry is what allows me to say, "I matter."
They give us a limit.
They say, "Go far, but not too far."
They say, "Go big, but not too big."
They say you can only do so much.
They say slow down, nows not the time.
They say watch your limits.
Hopes and dreams,
That always seems,
Out of her reach.
Broken lives,
And stolen Dreams.
Two winged sky roamer,
Tell Me Again of how your privilege is comparable to the suffering of those who built the pedestal you preside on.
A young girl living in a old world
Subject to customs
Each day her mind is running, jumping, skipping, and tumbling
Looking, searching for the broken joy that got away
A young girl living in a old world
We all live in a world of expectations.
Were we are expected to be an image of perfection and sweetness.
However, I'ma Do It Like Miley.
I am not no Disney character.
The Race Game
By: Syreeta Morgan
The issue of race and racial equality seems to be trending
to sin with love
is to quite simply love,
to judge someone's love
is like judging art.
you may not like the sight
or even see the point
but to others it may feel just right.
We are getting pulled on strings
we wish one day to grow our wings.
One day we would like to see
what we are made to be.
As for now be proud,
speak your thoughts out loud.
When in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary
to treat humans
like humans
and dissolve the political
and racially prejudice bonds that drive
a heinous wedge between us.
I feel music in my heart.
I feel it run from my fingers, through my veins, to my heart.
I can feel it.
Every note, every rhythm, every pitch, every melody,
I can hear it.
I hear music in the wind.
This is a poem for my brothers and my sisters
Yes the brothers and sisters of my blood
and
Yes the brothers and sisters of my hood
and
Before my window I now stand.
I see the trees and grass and land,
That for so many of years have stood,
Attesting loudly to the good.
I see before me as I gaze,
The people free to go their ways,
A dream you keep dreaming
A ridiculous fantasy.
You need to wake up and see things, better yet people for who they really are.
They don't know you like I do
Without life there is no connection
no connection, no love, no lost.
All I live for is to connect.
Some friends, others money.
Mine's is interaction.
Without having that person to talk to about anything.
I love the sky
I love outer space
I love you
And I love the human race
I hate society
I hate egos
I hate discrimination
And I hate the unknown
I hope society changes
I need a different kind of love story...
Okay, so here's the synopsis:
A girl meets a boy
And then questions her self worth
When he looks her up and down
And his eyes pause on her short skirt
I am stuck on a island everyday
From the unaccessible sidewalks
To the bigoted words you say
Yes I may be handicapped
But aren't we all in our own way
It simply doesn’t add up,
The world we live is the one and only Earth
For we shall be side by side
To strive for equality
Nor be look down by gender
All I need is fairness in a world
where it seems it does not exist.
Where it feels as though
every ounce of what I do
is measured and judged by people
Hi I'm here to tell you a story A story about me Or you Or him Or her Or those two over there Or the ones walking behind me Hi I'm here to tell you that We are alike I'm here to tell you that blood flows through my veins Sharp objects can
"It's only nature," he says,
As he waters the vines
That slowly wrap around you
Blinding, constricting, smothering
Your ripped clothes tangled in the roots.
"Don't question what is natural," he says.
I come from the birds and the bees,
or at least
that's what they once told me
i come from outer space,
i'm an alien
and I'm on a spaceship moving back and forth through time.
Who am I?
What am I?
I have questioned myself since I could talk
I was given this identity from the day I was able to walk
My father calls me daddies little girl
Gina Napolitano
Cotton
Your crosses are covered in blood.
Not the blood of Christ,
But the blood that oozes from brown skin.
There are a lot of words that society has changed the meaning of, making the word impossible to be achieved. Words like equal and fact.
Put the food down,
Girls look better thin.
Don't frown,
Smiles always win.
Don't cry,
People will think you're insane.
Look away from football,
Let boys enjoy their game.
The color of one’s skin
Is not where they begin
There should be no racism
We’re all human
A gender is a gender
So rich in flavor, natural and raw
It's no clue no one can withstand my
Exploding, mouth-watering taste so pushed to the side
They leave me a waste..
She and She
She and she
Gently dream
Of sun and peace
Upon a different world
So they pretend.
Morning and night always turn around
A Business Calamity
By: Jake P
Attractive to All
Apparently Altering Animals Artificially
At this Aside
Best of the “Bad”
Bettering Beasts By Battery
Believing it Brave
Most might say joy, love, hope, and sleep,
However, I prefer the beauty of silence,
With its daunting tones,
And comfort it brings when I weep,
The dramatic scene fostered by the cut of sirens.
Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.
Could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?
I'm scared
Scared of what's to come
Scared of what has happened
Scared of what is happening
Scared of what could happen
Holding silvers and golds into place on your neck,
Keeping notes and to-do lists on a refrigerator in check.
My dark skin isn't a sin.
Your perception of my obscure color is what you have within, and when I look at my reflection, I'm in love with my complexion.
"Make me a sandwich."
Well, I would rather not.
"Cover up, slut."
Umm... no.
"You throw like a girl."
If you say so.
Ignore them.
Don't retaliate
You trudge through the daily life,
budge through to make a life
Try to say goodbye?
It doesn't work that way
you've come this far just to dig your grave?
You're smart.
Black or White
Mexican or African-American
English or French
Black or White
Two Eyes
Two Ears
One Heart or None?
In China, hospitals skip the fourth
and the fourteenth floor
because four in Mandarin Chinese
iss hi,
the same pronunciation
as the word for death.
Life's sorrows' and treasures are endless in our cycle before perish
All the temptations & riches we cherish but our souls are the poorest
Possessing knowledge of right & wrong, we reamin ignorant
Person 1:
In a land of peace
Why does the hate increase
When the “Christians” see
A woman in the street
Cloth on her head
Before I came I was nervous, but I became like a man in worship.I stripped off the shells of my insecurity, and embraced a new vision of surety.I found myself among so many flags, all these different colors and rags.
I am… The Lady
I am the lady who likes muscle, not malls.
I like the feeling of how the power and strength that surges through my mind and body and soul creates harmony amongst my demons
My existence is captured within the breeze.
Swiftly moving,
Circulating the vibes of humanity.
Furor never inferior for I cannot easily be depressed
Try to repress me,
My name is not Becky, Amanda, or Brittney. It is not Sarah, Ciara or Sandy.
My name is M-E-L-Y-N-N-E, and that spells Melynne.
My skin is tan and my hair is dark brown and curly.
Your existence is never trivialYour sins are always forgivableYour crimes are all permissibleNo matter how despicableYou’ll never be held accountable
So, I poem about me? Well,
Me isn't the me you see.
At least on the outside,that is.
Have you ever looked into the mirror and seen something you're not?
I ache for something more than this.
There is this spark in the pit of coals that smolder underneath my skin,
that scars my flesh from the inside out, that promises
– that swears –
What do I find awesome?
Education and the fact that it helps me blossom
Everything from reading to color coding notes
Reading lets me discover new worlds and teaches me cool new words
Talk until past,
speak untill away,
darkness and light will talk all day,
darkness and light will create a beautiful eclipse ,
in the silence of their hearts,
And the light will take over,
Dear little girl,
When I was born
I was born into a world of conditions
And because of tradition, and societal ambition
I grew up within the confines of my sex
is awesome.
is accepting.
is civil.
is respecting.
is beneficial to the rights of others.
is now legal in all 50 states.
is Constitutionally protected.
is not evil.
is not immoral.
A stream of consciousness
that was developed when we were young
gives us the ability
to make a connection with another-
we are a social people after all.
And it's astounding.
Now I'm not political. I dont vote. Not even old enough to have taxes to do. But some things have been said that simply aren't true. Now i'm not Mexican. But I am a minority of a minority Black, Hispanic ,Native ,woman and left handed too.
Everything is awesome,
because not only flowers can blossom,
that kid on the streets can too, or even that person that lost their job,
and they don't know what to do.
There are so many opportunities to succeed,
Isn’t it awesome, that rivers are forever?
They are forever, and yet you will never stand in the same river twice,
The river is a new being and packs a punch like a spice.
Isn’t it awesome, how as humans we have grown?
Mother says,"Put on more clothes.Such dress is not appropriatefor a girl like you."She pauses her cooking andforces onto methe red dress and white wingsthat cover my face,my eyes,
Often I find myself in thought
Silent on the outside, screaming on the inside
Internally I fought
You are either a girl or a boy, and that's it, right?You can be one or the other, not both and not neither.That's what I've been told, and I try to believe it with all my might,But I know how I feel, you don't.
What Crevecoeur said about America being a melting pot is true!
My teachers and mentors say that is more like a stew.
However let me prove it to you
For once I explain then I can tell you my troubles
The Way She Smiles and The Way She Touch
Her Beautiful Laugh and Her skin Color While She Blush
Soft As Feathers, Warms My Heart
I Play My Role and She Plays Her Part
When She walks With A Steady Beat
Misogyny equals atrocity
You belong in a kitchen
Women have hands that are too warm
Equal opportunity?
That's why we have less pay
and those that attempt to cat call me
Filters do not make me,
they don't choose my destiny,
they don't tell me what I'm going to be.
I'm still me at the end of the day,
I'm still going to express what I need to say,
I see
Native Americans: We stole this from you
Black people: We brought you here
Mexicans: Get out and stay out
I demand change.
In these twisted, damaging days.
Where women are afraid to leave for work
for fear of merciless rape
Where people of color
cannot receive a fair wage
they look at me and all agree
they think im a stuck up white girl
like, "she probably gets all her shit for free"
ive got blonde hair, blue eyes.
and my skintone is real white
Cease and desist
Or else suffer the consequence
We live in a police state
Corruption is rampant
Forces of racists and brutatlity reign
Another innocent gunned down, bring a city to fame
While people get dismissed
Pissed off, with bad problems
Solved by a payoff played up
With bad bargains
We cremate in carbon
copies of unclear scandals
I am a new beginning
A jump across a puddle and two hops to the left
Press start.
Look up. The dreams no longer satisfy who I am
I am a force
Not a physical matter to measure
In a male dominated society
It is hard to be a woman
You have to do things quietly
Only to be proven
a fool,
Trying to act politely
Thinkin it makes you look cool
“When I get older I will be stronger, they’ll call me freedom just like waving flag.”
Langston Hughes had the blues when he said
For as long as i can remember
I have always been attracted to females
But I had always been told that being attracted to the same-sex was
unnatural
wrong
a sin
just not right.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
In. Out. In. Out.
Proof I am human runs through my veins.
Proof that I am alive and functioning shows everyday.
Is it because the color of my skin that makes me different from you
Blind to the fact, that statement is not true
Living in a society with stereotypes that's suppose to be clues
With the music of the sirens,
We each turn our ear;
We think of tomorrow,
Though we cower in fear.
Yes, the broken and bleeding,
You have us standing right here.
Will you fire on your own people?
She is, in essence, all things. She is the universe embodied, and every tiny speck of dust within it. In her infiniteness, she draws all who meet her in and gives them a piece of her.
Ive started seeing the universe in everything.
And that is why when i am in nature i am full of joy.
because i know that everyone has a bit of blue sky in them
and even when the dawn approaches,
Don't look that way
Don't say those things
There's another pretty woman
Look away from the screens
They are supposed to define you
The princess dances, draped in all the world's white:
white shoes, white fan, white skirt and train,
A tired little cottage rests on a hill,
swallowed whole by a surrounding verdant sea
of grass, of scapes that roll and sway
Are we one?
It's hopeless I know this devoid of devotion.
So tired of the maddness and sick of emotions dividing the classes and poisoning the masses.
So I'm strictly devoted.
A gentle hand is far more fair
Than a fist raised in violence
A understanding reaps more rewards
Than ignorance and intolerance
Our skin is different shades of brown
Why argue over the same color
I pledge allegiance
To the flag
I remember the day
My best friend said
“I think I might be gay”
The world in itself is not rational
It is right for me, but it is not right for you
Themes that we see in early thought
Isolation, alienation, angst, and dissolution
Causes death.
Ethnicity, an identifier to some,
a misfortune to others...
to her.
She hides, her true identity under a body she feels isn't her own,
Mocked behind closed doors
To Be A Woman In America
means to be scared when you walk down the street
means to have to fight twice as hard to get just as much
means to have to listen to rape jokes and not start an uprising in the middle of class
A boy shot in the street
A cop with a gun
Six witnesses and hard evidence
Darren Wilson is given paid leave rather than put behind bars
Ferguon is called a riot area
As they block off any reports
Do I know you?
The words you pronounce
are so ugly and dirty,
But you say they fit me just
perfectly.
Do I know you?
No, I do not
but here I am lying on the floor
My reflection is
a mirage
purely an image
Based
on deception
hidden with lies
buried in secret
It whispers happiness
to me
But all I can see in
Let us arise swiftly
Let our movements be done
Abruptly
Like the wind
So that they may never catch us
Us,
We who lay in the shadows
Hiding in the darkness
for we know no fear
Society disapproves
Of how I feel.
It opens wounds
That will never heal.
Our bodies are the same,
But our love is too.
To our hearts it isn't a game,
No, I'm not gay,
But what if I was?
I wouldn't want to be judged like I see others do to those who are.
The problem with this world,
Is that we lost the love, but not the judgement.
The love was forgotten, and judgement took over.
I am not a racist.
Just becaues I state a fact.
If you call me a cracker
expect a slur to come back
Don't expect me to take it
Just because I am white
You'd cry "Racist" if i did the same
Father sent to jail
locked behind bars in a cell
hit moms up said she had to pay bail
On a false battery charge
police up in the yard
and my pops was pissed
Let Me be free to make a friend without worrying about their color
So I won’t offend
Let Me be free to go to the party and not be pressed
For being the girl wearing the best dress
It's not that hard to stand and fight when the war isn't a physical danger.
What we're fighting against aren't armies and guns and soldiers.
Though we fight with just as much might and anger.
Nobody's perfect,
Nobody's really selfish,
Nobody's really conceited,
But some people act as if they are.
People say I'm smart,
But I think I'm not, I just have good grades.
World packed with cruel hate.
It’s written in their fate.
What can the people do?
The worst part—the revulsion isn’t new.
A body in the street
but no one knows how the small child sees
his brother dead facedown
now he will be remembered as a corpse and the child a statue
Is this what we wanted
I had a dream
that one day we really could be
what it is we really do see
in ourselves, in the mirror starin back at me
instead of what people wanted to see
Today we are more sensitive to race than ever before. All the media has to do is put BLACK in the midst and Al Sharpton is on his way. I'm not saying racism does not exist. But why are we slaves to the very thought of it?
My god,he says as the train hurdles pasta hundred other men standing just like himlooking out from behind the panes of glass
Flowing gently in the breeze,
Is a wedding dress for you and me.
It could be white, it could be short,
Everyone sees the world,
but how exactly do we see it?
That person sees starving Africans,
this person sees people who never had a chance.
That person sees a homeless man,
Two people were born with the capacity to love and be loved. They lived their lives in sepearte towns, with rival football teams and differing zipcodes. They went to college together and never met.
She was jogging late one evening As every night she did Aware not of the treachery That falling darkness hid
I'm not just scared for me, I'm scared for my brother and my nephews. I'm scared that this world we live in will never give them the chance to reach their potential because they are black men in America.
Life is like a game of chest, so play it well. Love is like a game of cards, and some can't deal. My favorite cards used to be the ace and the joker but switched the game up, no longer playing poker. Threw out all the clubs.
I want to talk about Black Entertainment Television.
To discuss and describe the implements of incidents
that my people look up to as stardom.
We turn on the television to find our favorite male rap artist,
Growing up I only had to fear the men in white hoods, to stand against the power of the truly colored people.
Why do I need feminism?
Because in a world of hate,
I have to love myself
Or no one will
Because I cannot
walk down the street at night
You see that person sitting alone?
That person hiding pain behind a smile?
Had you even looked into their file
Would you not have seen the suffering?
Would you not understand?
You see that person?
Steeper up the steeple the bells ring
Chanting the enchanted hymns and songs no longer sacred
What we do hear, here in the chapels, the mosques, the synagogues
Is lust of temptations
An experimental poem…
I asked professor for the color of blue
Professor told me of the color of you
Blue.
Bruises on your tongue from speaking of the truth
Imagine a train station-
Bustling with people-
Crammed with bodies and breath,
Eyes looking towards the ground-
Avoiding those whom are pressed against them in every direction,
Special credit and thanks to Mr. Elliott Morgan--YouTuber, comedian, and thinker of deep thoughts. (Quote at bottom, courtesy of the aforementioned.)
Oftentimes we lose
the meaning, or the point.
A couple of months ago
A man murdered two women.
Murdered two. Injured six others.
But it was okay.
It was 100% justifiable by his
“troubled past.”
Black, White, Asian, Indian,
Christian, Muslim, Jew, Athiest
Gay, Straight, Bi, Lesbian
Does all of this really matter?
Can we not just be proud to be human?
Why Should I be less than thou that did not create me?
Because I have honey thighs and a figure but lack certain organs "thee" are not "we"?
Nurtured like flowers in a garden we are raised to succeed, but not to over achieve.
Put down the gun
You think you're tough?
I'm tired of books about women.
Strong women
Women who challenge
Women who can't be princesses
Women who can't want children.
Inner strength
A dark room. I lie alone.
Non-existent until this moment.
Darkness blinds my open eyes.
To me, my world is what I see.
I flip over. I turn around.
What makes me tick?
What forces my mind to click?
Being treated as a second.
Never first, never respected.
I don't see color but hearts.
if only everyone knew
if only everyone had their experiences
if only everyone understood
if only, if only.
Why must we hide
Why must we apologize
Why must we be criticized
For who we are inside
I see no reason to lie
People are monsters
Hating those who just want
To love
Flaming red eyes, torn clothes at the thighs, and cuts and bruises that seemed to multiply, but still their lips whisper in sync
" She lies! She lies! "
But she only tells the truth
She is only but a youth
Why can a man walk free
down the street, without a care
in the world, and a pep
in his feet? But a woman must
leer, must live in a constant fear
that a man's touch or sneer
Every Friday and Saturday
You go and drink
You go and dance
You go and loose your mind
Being far from home
Far from rules
Far from reality
Far from truth
Why is there so much hate in this world?
Everywhere I lend an ear I hear insults about a
HUMAN...being
just that.
HUMAN
Being: too straight, too gay, so black, so white
Hispanic women always say I should learn how to cook,
because men like that. Not just Hispanic men,
but all men.
Big men with swollen arms and clouded heads that
like to take it slow.
She feels them staring at her.
The energy it gives off
Makes her want to jump out of her skin.
In a pride of lions, the lioness hunts while the male stays back
In many species of birds the male's bright feathers elaborate dances and song are desperate attempts to attract female birds
Monday through Friday, 8-5
"Young Lady," I hear
"Shh, while they talk"
Is my input not important?
"Young Lady," I hear
"Listen to the men speak."
Can I not speak as well?
I didn’t recall inviting him to put his arm around me
Much less for him to slide his hands along my thighs
station his palms over my hips
tease my chin and my neck with the tips of his fingers and lips
Being gay isn't a choice
Because why would I choose to lose my voice?
Not my voice physically, but politically
"I am not religious", I tell them.
I'm just not.
I am not rejecting religion.
Just after all these years of having christian religion shoved down my throat I'm just not interested, you know?
I can do a push-up.Not the modified, girl kind;The "boy" ones, with my feet and all.But this is not a poem about me.
Oh, you hate men? Why would you be a feminist? All guys aren't like that..That's so unfair.
No matter the form, color, or shape.
Love is not defined through all the red tape.
Who are we to tell another who they can and cannot love?
She takes flight.
All the light in those babydoll eyes.
Broken.
Soars away from these hardships.
Tender hands burned.
In this seemingly painless discuise.
Don't leave me in the darkness.
"Play the game" they say. "Just play the game." The only way to get ahead in life is to play the game. The rules are simple they say; bow, kneel, bend, but dont break. Kiss ass, tell people what they want to hear.
"You're an atheist?!"
"You know you're going to hell right?"
"I'll be praying for you."
Yes. I'm an atheist.
No that does not mean that
I worship Satan, or
I hate religion, or
I hate God, or
Poetic essay
Before I write a poem,
I think.
Every day,
A child is born from imagination.
Every night,
A child is put to sleep inside inspiration.
Left and right I feel offended
because in the shadows and undetected
are words that pierce and are directed
at my womanhood and role that society elected
When I walk near men I feel inspected
Naivety is expressed in many minds
About many matters where ignorance is but a synonym,
Yet let those words scathe their ears and retorts
Will soon follow. "Not all men-!" Yes all men because,
Tell me do you think I am blind?To the continuous jabs from mankind?Or maybe you would like to just keep me behindIn step with those composed and confinedIn a world where equality is so restricted and unkind.
This is for you: mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, friend,
Teacher with a grimace:
“Never, she never pays attention in my class.”
“We’re sorry we’ve taken her to see a specialist”
Why?
Society is a mess
We have boys turning into men
In a society that says
It's alright to be disrespectful
It's alright to be sexist
It's alright to be rude to women
They're told we don't deserve respect
I live in the urban area of kansas city which most people know it as a place of poverty not realizing that sure we might suffer from hunger but to be more exact we suffer for eduction.
Out here, it's just you and me
No one telling us who to be
The moonlight and the stars shining so bright embrace us as we embrace each other
I have a dream that one day equality will mean just that. Marriage is a right for everyone. I have a dream that one day discrimination will no longer exist.
You say your love for me is unconditional
that no action or choice I made could be rendered unforgivable
but our conversation the other day left me deeply shook
When I was eight, I tried to hand my crush a cookie
he stared at it and said, "do blacks make their cookies different?"
I stared at his bright freckled hand and fire glazed hair
As my Brother wash the dishes
i wonder if my mother should be sleeping.
My Father told me to cut the grass.
i never seen me cut it before.
My Friend Tony said that he does not believe in my family.
Why can’t we just throw it all away?
Just let the hate lie and not let it consume us;
Why we have to fight each other.
We are all the same inside.
I started to think about the sun
That hot blazing fire in the sky
Destined to bring the earth to her death
Every movement
Every heartbeat
Every breath
Gone
I’m tired
Tired of being told women are placed upon a Pedestal.
When the reality if we are upset we are told that we are being Menstrual
We do not see eye to eye, missing each other due to Fluctuation of Time.
What gives you the right
To try and claim my body
My body is my own
It’s not here for you to
Press and knead
Jab and paw at
Claw and sink
Your fingers into
Skin does not have the power
To identify who someone is.
Skin has no morality, nor intelligence
My reason for writing is not just because I can, but rather it's who I am
Poetry is more than just an art of flowing words together melodically
But it is my therapy
It’s easy to be angry at something you don’t understand.
Something that seems so far away,
out of reach.
How can you understand something when you take a stand against it?
Take a stand,
Why is it called Feminist
when it is in favor of both genders?
it should be called
humanist
or equalist.
Are there male feminist?
Would they be called Manimist?
MY NAME IS LJ
I’m at the grocery store.
I’m out to lunch.
I’m at the gym.
I’m at work.
I’m at a bar.
By myself.
With my four-year-old cousin.
With my friends.
Diatribes against discrimination
Of hate that plagues a nation
Once called United but now, separation
Kicking and screaming against ghettoization
But our shouts are all silenced
By the hands of commanders
Eyes searching hungrily
Viewed as meat and an object
Who am I to object?
Who am I to say no?
I have no say in what is 'right' for me to do
I must know my place
I saw her again today
In the corner of the lunchroom eating alone.
Her parents are never really home
And I wonder if she wonders,
How does a girl, someone so different
Who is poverty?Where did it come from?What will be its remedy?Why does it cause so much pain?When can we eradicate its name?How do we begin to let our lights shine and ruin its fame.?
All I ever wanted
Was for my bisexual cousin 2 feel safe
Walking with her partner and not worry
'bout some fucktard trying to rape her straight
All I ever wanted
Was to find love
To shine, save lives, conquer, and fly
Those were our dreams before trying to survive
Now it’s money, wealth, and superiority for what we’re forced to strive
But God bless the soul who wants otherwise
Peace! Land! Bread!
This is by no means outdated.
When Lenin made these promises,
He wasn't just thinking of Russia.
He was thinking of the impoverished of Africa,
The hungry in America,
Eighteen score years ago, a cradled crying baby - who was given an enlightened path - was born
I fell in love
Woth a woman
Who taught me how to love.
Because of this love
I'm a
Faggot
Dyke
Sinner
Slut
Whore;
An abomination.
When did the world turn to hate?
I write because it is my tactic of escape
From this cold world filled with violence and rape
She was supposed to be a boy.
Over there, she might not have lived to see another day.
Here, she was loved.
I am loved. I can follow my dreams.
But they called me bossy.
Loud.
Pushy.
I am a woman
I have long hair, I have a high voice, long lashes and lips of cherry
I have curves, I have breasts and a butt
And I love my body and I am proud
What makes me tick?
Well, take your pick:
I don't like to exercise
But I like to supervise.
I pour out my heart
In the name of art.
My dark corners revealed
There is no shield.
No reflection in the mirror
Because society doesn’t see me
No confidence in my life
Due to boundaries in my community
No money at the bank
Cause I never get a raise
Only sorrow in my eyes
Then it became a commercial enterprise and they were changed.
They ate what you ate even when their insides rejected it with every taste
Because we are the broken and shattered
crooked smiles on crooked streets
treadmill runners yearning for a place to be
Because we desire to be found as "somebody"
In the depths of Tarturus, we long for spring time.There is no spring here, in the world we live.We are surrounded by Evil.By Hatred.
In the depths of Tarturus, we long for spring time.There is no spring here, in the world we live.We are surrounded by Evil.By Hatred.
If I could change the world
I'd change the way we live today
Change the way we think
And change the way we perceive
If I could change the world
I'd fly around a mountain high
If i had one change to change the world what I wouldn't give to have that chance
I would end world hunger in that way saving more lives
My hair
My eyes
My height
All things I could change
But what I would change is something much more
It not about myself, its about the world
Rather than helping one sole, It would help much more
You hear it all the time
The cliched, "There are only two types of people in the world..."
But the world is more than just black and white
"I walk down these streets and see the flowers line the wall,
I walk down these streets and see the buildings grow so tall,
I would enjoy them, trust me, I have the time,
I have a dream that one day race, socio-economic status, gender, religion, ability, or sexual orientation will no longer serve as obstacles to justic
I hope one day I’ll breathe in sweet relief
Because we women, after fighting tooth
And nail for equal rights, have won the war.
We women stand with men, no longer small,
No longer quiet. Strong with voices loud,
Imagine a world of no conflictNo anger, no murder, no war
A world of respect
Where the color of your skin doesn’t matterWhere which side of the tracks you grew upon makes no change
What would you change?
What would I change?
I'd chage the way peole think,
Get rid of the unnceccasary judgement.
Who needs that?
Certainy not we.
We have the power to learn,
I lay still
Still I lay
While they look down at me
I am dressed in satin.
With my hair just so
And a rose within my grasp
Their eyes do cry
They cry from their eyes
If I could change one thing?
The World.
Every boy. Every girl would have
clothes
food
love and shoes
they'd have the right to be free
happy
There is a world of prejudice out there
One filled with more hate than I could write
It progresses on
Even as its inhabitants don't
There is a world of hypocracy out there
I am a very religious heterosexual female. I am currently dating a guy, going on a year now. We are very happy together and we've even discussed marriage way down the road.
If I could change the world,
I would abolish prejudice;
Or the bumpy past,
That created it.
No race more superior,
No size more supreme.
Only happiness,
And positivity gleamed.
Red, Yellow, Blue, Green
Flags are nothing but color.
Caucasian, Indian, Islander, African
Skin is not the issue in particular.
Trans, Gay, Straight, Bi
We are all the same.
Unequal pay,
Long hours durring the day,
Sexual harassment in the office,
Why do we deserve to be treated this way?
She doesn't work as hard as the others her they say,
From violence to insanity, I will change it all.
From the kidnappings to the murders, i will change it all.
From the guilty to the accused, I will change it all.
The way people view others
It's such a shame
If I were king for a day
That is what I would change
The color of skin pigment
Can create severe judgment
Arabians accused of terror
I look forward to the day
When the share post doesn't need to say:
"Share if you are a strong black woman who doesn't need a man."
"Share if you are a strong woman who doesn't need a man."
If ignorance is bliss
Then let me off this
Ride
I refuse to be blind
Shutting off my mind
Forever
Okay to only follow
Is a thought I cannot swallow
Down
Dreams seem hopeless
When you have doubt.
When you think there's no way out.
So please, hear me out.
This is what I would do.
Changing the world,
It's like polishing a pearl.
Whatever happened to the evaluation of our own sins
before casting stones at others?
Have we all forgotten that lesson?
So many people speakin of things
they know nothing about.
Assumptions turn into rumors,
I never thought my sexuality
The way I love
Would become the center of my world
It would be the sun around which I revolve
I didn't think I would become so obsessed
So focused on finding myself
He doesn't have too many friends
Then again, it's a small school
None of us have too many friends
But he doesn't have too many friends
And he's walking down the hall
And someone yells out
"Hey! Look!
The difference is a letter
Or a chromosome, really
It’s a variable, it’s chance
By biology, a 50/50 split
XX = XY
It’s not biology
It’s society
I am a female; I am told I am lesser
We are born unwonted.
some keep up with such a wonky personality,
some are pushed into categories
by the dogmatic dictators of society,
some of our eyes shine curiously,
because we know...
If I could change anything about the world today,
Anything at all,
I would change our perceptions on people
I would crush our ideas that anyone is better than another
Especially if you believe that because of
The life I see before me,
Is only a path of scrutiny.
If I could change one thing,
One thing only.
It would be the change where
Everyone is equal.
No hate, no fear, no decrimination.
Waking up in a room,
With not even a pair of shoes.
They stripped me down,
Took me from my town,
And here I awaited my doom.
This dream that haunted me often
He stands alone
In a small empty room.
Behind him,
scrawled in big, ugly letters
are two short words:
TOO STUPID
He cowers, his lip trembles
Gay. Straight. Bisexual.
Why do we need these names?
So what you're a girl who happens to like a girl?
So what you're a girl who happens to like a boy?
They’re ungrateful; they got themselves in that position; they’re just being lazy,One man I served at a soup kitchen even said-“you spend too much time helping us; you will become one of us”.
If love makes the world go round,
then why do some hault its' spin?
How would you like it
if i stopped you from being with your soulmate
because of my opinion.
Why is it that you think
If I could change anything
I would change a dad’s mind
I would make him still love
By choice; not just to be kind
If I could change anything
I would change those who stare
If I could change one little thing.
Oh country 'tis of thee
You say it's all equality,
yet your actions are monotony.
Isn't it ironic that our country is replete with variety?
Everytime I look around and see an inhospitable stare directed at me, I want to say
QUIT LOOKING AT ME! I'm no different from you
So you want to change?
I do.
It seems so easy
So there
So right
Right?
If I could change anything
It would be perception
Myself
My Community
The world?
My heart aches as I tell my tale
A tale as old as America itself
How my parents came for a better life
Condemning themselves a different kind
A kind of people misunderstood
I love her with all of my heart.
My broken, mangled, crumbling organ of love.
I want to show her off,
To hold her hand and kiss her in front of more then God above.
But my family's strict.
What would I change about the world you ask?
Well I guess it all starts with this.
I want a clean slate for everyone,
No more hate or prejudice, that needs to be done.
The world we live in is a mess
but we can fix it.
We need everyone to try
and no one to quit.
Some people are fat, some people are gay
some people have blue hair and some people have tattoos.
Judgment.Discrimination.That’s all I ever see.When will come the timeWhen we see each other equally?Appearance.Identity.Criticized constantly.Why can’t we live in a world
If I could change one thing so small,
A thought, a word, a friendly call,
I would change the hearts of men
To turn from gold and wealth times ten,
And turn instead to their brothers plights,
Hate exists
Whether we want to believe it or not.
Those who preach purity, fire the first shot.
Gay, straight, confused, transgender
Does it really matter what kind?
To change discrimination
To really make all equal
Men and Women
Women and Men
Earth would be most peacful indeed
If the change of discrimination would come
The world would be peacful
Woman
One of two or one of many
Depending on your views
Woman
Not worthy of wealth
Except wealth of home
To the man she calls
To the man she owes
Woman
The world is swirling, whirling, grinding with fear. The thoughts of children crying, people dying, reek in my ears.
gay straight black and white
for them we fight but when will
girls be equals too?
The ability to change the world is greater than I can imagine
What would I change is a great question
Would it be to creat world peace, or take away crime?
Or would it be more complex, like slowing down time?
What I Would Change
If i had one day to change something in my life it would be equal oppurtunity,
If I could change, just anything
I would change the way love is viewed.
Some say marriage can only be between a man and a woman,
But who are they to judge?
Now this might sound cliche
But I'm about to change the world
Take criticism away
From all the boys and girls
All men created equal
But that's not how it works
You're told you're not perfect
You say you would love to have my life,
You can definitely have it.
Maybe after this you will think twice.
It isn’t that great,
You may not like the price.
“I would kill to have your body!”
America, one word to decribe it: great.
There is but one thing that I do hate.
The freedom we falsely exhibited.
Was in actuallity always prohibitted.
If you wish to go to church, then be my guest.
Pure, the infant is born
Caught in wonder and awe
not yet taught to scorn
or haunted by what its saw
Children see no race
Or sexual orientation
All love they embrace
I am happy
for her,
She has beauty
and heart,
She deserves it
for sure,
Her soul
is true art,
All those who disagree,
Calm down and
let the girl be.
What if.
What if I'm not just the tight kink of a curl.
What if I'm not just soft brown blends that make the hue of my skin.
Questionin innocenceNeed tuh cleanse n replenish dis effed up conscience.Hoodie up, arizona n skittles in his pocketsSuspicionLife taken away for foolishness of self defense?
Don't look at me and say that you feel the same as me.
You are not my equal, you will never be as equal as me.
I fought for a voice that will never be heard.
You watched silently and took all the credit.
We live in this world together
I can’t run from you
And you can’t run from me
There is a limited space of land & sea
No matter where you go
"We are connected in an inescapable network of mutuality
"we'll pray for youyou're just confused.it's just a phase.everyone goes through this."
goes through what, exactly?
Every day voices circle all around me
Telling me what I should or shouldn’t be
Why don’t you play with girls’ toys?
Why do you spend so much time with boys?
You should go shopping more with fellow females
Throughout time, it has always been natural for a man to be with a woman.
However, times are changing and our generation is changing and embarking on a journey for equal rights and equal protections.
We preach peace, yet declare war.
We want to end world hunger, yet we toss food on the daily.
We want to attain the best education, yet we are charged more than we can afford.
Equality.
Equality is a word that is used too freely.
We are all supposedly equal.
But this is not true.
So I am done.
Done with the rules made by
White old men who earn more
When someone tells you to be this or that,
What makes it okay to listen?
You weren’t raised to be molded into that ideal human being.
You weren’t raised to follow that hateful society outside.
We are a disjointed body,
crippled by their oppressive
strength;
they strive by walking
over us.
Our rights don't matter
until the november polls;
What is difference?
Why does society dislike the different?
Who is to say what is differrent?
No one is the same
Yet, we all want to be like someone else
No one is equal
yet everyone is equal.
When I hear you say, “don’t go down that way.
The boys dress like girls. Those people are gay.”
Well I don’t know what you mean, but I know you mean well.
You’ve got a heart of gold, your intentions are swell.
Arkansas
State so beautiful
Natural as can be
Friendly people everywhere
We do not miss a beat
But disappointment looms
In my home state true
A view upon marriage
Why question those who are different from yourself?
Why feel the need to snicker and roll your eyes because they don't fit the mold like you?
Why be repulsed instead of attempting to understand?
We live in a world full of many races,
We see so many different faces.
Some are big and some are small,
But as people, we need to love them all.
There are opinions about religion and hate,
I wish I could tell you
about myself:
that I love the whole spectrum of gender
and that I feel so uncomfortable
in my own skin
that I want to peel it all away
and become new
Love. Such a simple but complex word that is used on a daily basis. Love that was said should never mix races. Love that to some should stay between woman and man. A love that most people give all they can.
All I see is violence
All I hear are lies
All I want is happinness
All I get is hatred
Untames and Untainted
They hate me
And at times I hate them
All I want is a chance
I’m walking a thin line,
I’m running out of my lifeline.
They’re letting go, they’re moving on
How come I’m so far gone?
Why am I so worthless?
My life so pointless?
I thought about it once or twice,
maybe three or four.
About suicide, and what it would be like,
if I didn’t live anymore.
My world is dark and gray,
filled with sorrow and lots of pain.
I made a full length remix to Macklemore's song "Same Love."
These are the lyrics I wrote:
Verse 1:
When I was 7, I knew I wasn’t like my other friends
Be that flip side of the coin,
don't be the one to join
in such cruel and useless taunts,
Ms. America is Indian, why all the jaunts?
I'm white and you could be black,
we are all equals, it's a fact.
Since a young age
I've been plagued
My mind set a certain way
By fairy tales
They taught me
That happily ever after
Always follows the end
And the princes marry princesses and that's it
We,
The people of America, who fought for
Liberty, Freedom, and Equality,
Continue to live in a world full of discrimination.
“Are
You sure?”
The lunch bell rings, and not a minute too soon
My stomach has been growling ever since noon
Didn't get enough to eat in the morning, guess it's my fault
But as soon as I set foot in the lunch line,
I love you, I love her and him.
Is that so wrong......
It's completely right.
The way your hand fits in mine, the pressing of our palms remind me that you're mine.
She’s far from an innocent
For deep in her past
Lie memories in waiting,
Coming on fast.
The shame and the guilt
Are too much to take,
So she closes her eyes
And accepts her fate…
A laugh
A scoff
"She's such a slut"
That girl right there
With the low-cut shirt, high heels, short skirt.
You don't know her,
You don't know her life,
But that doesn't matter.
Can you understand the way?
Roll down the hill with the best of them?
The girls and guys who like each other.
The shame they feel when they walk down the hall.
Equality should be showcased.
I will be whoever the fuck I want.
Let me repeat that.
I, Faith Rider, will be, whoever, whatever, the fuck I want.
Everyone is putting themselves in boxes,
"I'm straight!."
"I'm Gay!"
"I'm Bi!"
By: Saranda R
Our flag waves in the ocean of pride that envelopes this country
With its economic strides and setbacks that we criticize
Adding to the problem, not developing a solution
7.046 billion people in the world
1,200 students at the average high school
So many faces in the world
So many people that are passed by
What would happen if there was a chain reaction?
I dream of a life where media isn't idolized,
Where women can love their bodies the way they are
and society will no longer have ficticious expectations.
I dream of a love that is PURE and true,
I am BOLD, I am BRAVE,
Who are YOU to tell me I'm not.
I may not be the fastest to understand, but I give what I've got.
My BEST....is it enough?
I study, I struggle, I even go without sleep,
It is okay to love
When I was a kid my parents told me about Santa
They told me about the Tooth Fairy
They told me about the Easter Bunny
They told me about God
I am a real piece of work
And that much about me will never change
I’ll change the world with words
The same way you changed me
You made me a worrier
Excuse me
To the land of the free, to the home of the brave
We sing these words proudly for all to hear
But what aboout those who we still need to save?
The lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders; who still live in fear
I am in this world deformed,Rendered useless by some,But unbeknownst to them, There's a world that will accept me.It comes through the TV screen,in the form of kingdoms, mazes, and caverns.I can take to the skies, swing a sword at those who questi
A teacher who takes bribes is no better decribed
As a failure at her job
For condemning these lies.
A highschool student, a football star,
From a 2.0,
He does fall far.
Oh. Thick girls?
They are better than Big girls.
Big girls are like big.
Thick Girls are just better
Said everyone.
Big girl
Big girl
No loves you they said, lose weight they tell me
She was perfect.
Bottled blonde.
With hardly any flaws.
Straight A's in every class.
Cheer leader on top of that.
Do you know why she's gone?
Some say she just up and left.
Brainwash the children of the nation
with songs by Drake
omg becky look at her butt
you only live once
dripping with misogyny
stupid sayings
strangle our minds into believing
she walks the halls but doesnt speak
the pain is voiced by the tear on her cheek
her beauty and innocence corrupted by others
who point and laugh at the skin she covers
a boy who sits alone and cries
Racism
Sexism
Heterosexism
Classism
Humans
Oppression
Privilege
Advantage
Suppression
Humans
White
Heterosexual
Male
Perfect
Black or White
We are all the same
Created by one creator
And are all equal
Accept who we are
Not what we are
Black or White
We are all one
We may have different points of veiw
Out of place, he sits there.
As though ignorant
Of judgment and pity.
Dirt in the creases of his coat,
the pleats of his scarf,
the wrinkles of his face
Disappearing into his aged beard.
Eyes connect
Shoulders rolling back
Chest puffed out
Plump lips of pure crimson
Curling up in a seductive grin
Beckoning that I come closer
And closer still
Breath quickening
"...and we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men were created equal..."
1776; It was a constitutional statement that society swore under the honor of god
But isn't it odd
It’s been a hard day’s night
I should be sleeping like a log
But the fools are steady day trippin’
So I have to fight them off
I can sit for hours,
Staring at flowers.
I could fly into space,
Me and the stars always race,
and we are all the same color,
you and her are sister and brother.
Why is it that
Those of us that can’t afford
A college education
Are punished for trying?
Why is the world saying
Screw you
For trying to get out
And do more than our parents
Grandparents
This unspeakable thoughts
Diligence anger
Are these anomalies?
I feel listless towards this unknown feelings
Love Hope Hate LustThe things that make us humanFear Anger Despair InsanityThe things we have in commonLife Death Heaven HellThe things that make us believeBlood Sweat Tears Failure
Catholic school does a number on a child,
He never knows what to believe.
Dear God, that woman in the habit she rapped my fingers time and time again when I’d take the Lord’s name in vain,
You, girl. Wee girl.
Oblivious to the world that surrounds you.
The vultures, the animals.
Creatures we call people.
They'll wine you, they'll dine you,
They'll rip you to shreds.
I dream of change across the world. I dream of change from door to door. From happiness to equality. A brand new start for you and me. To walk in and not be judged. To speak your mind and not be smudged.
Native Americanstravel far...assimilateinto our communal forces
They gave only lovewe must give it back...
Their higher senseof color when theymake crafts...brilliant, bold, beautiful
Grab a hand and stand together
let here a heartfelt welcome
hand by hand race by race
together we stand equal
strong and firm
We are never alone
so be a friend and lend an ear
My brother
Make your legacy live in history
The past of segregation lingers onto our present communities,
And its comedy is somehow becoming our young brothers and sisters
you see..
I never understood what was so different about LGBTQ people that they got treated so differently
I never understood why sometimes my uncle had to hide who he really was from society
Freedom for you is supposed to be freedom for me
Because our nation's promise is equality.
But ultimately,
You are freedoms fool.
She opens my eyesto a new world,a new universe,full of happiness;happiness to be with the one I lovebut also, a new world fullof hurt.They are constantly staring,plotting against us,
White or black
what difference does it make?
we are both skins
that we did not create
the color we walk in
is our own
the only thing that we can embrace
is making us known
of who we are
We as a people are capable of so much
We must use each other as a clutch
We as a people must rise to the majestic heights
So we can fight this battle like a medieval knight
Under my bedI layAfraidBecause tonight is just one of those nightsMama works late
I can hear you stumbleYour scent getting closerYou mumbleI should call mamaBut I'm just not suppose to
Look to the sky as I feel despair
Nuclear flashes consume the air
All land is now a pyre
The Earth, a never-ending oxygen fire
Good and evil, dead, the same
We only have ourselves to blame
In the midst of the gale
I found myself, helpless and pale
A girl called Aanu, censorious of the image
Staring back at her in the mirror, the horror of her own visage
Not once in my life have I heard someone say
“Could you spare some change?”; no, they expect we will pay.
They sit with their signs, black words in black scrawl,
and hope as we each walk on by, one and all.
She breaths the air of stereotype
as she mounts the mountain of her life.
Walking on broken glass,
listening to others' cynical laughs,
she still manages to ascend.
Distant from inclusion,
Diversity: we are all different
Diversity: we are all individual
Without Diversity we’d be the same
Everyone would like only vanilla ice cream
Made of Steele
made to clink together
made to keep a race back
foever ? made to seprate
us and not bring us together.
There seems like there's no sunny
weather, cloudy skies and
Bulit up on a lie so how would
you expect us to survive ?!
Clenched with chains like
a beast who can not be tamed
Not knowing that we where the
First to be crowned king
It's all connected, don't you see?
From you to me to he to she to they to we
We're unified yet disintegrated, for many fail to see
The truth in equality needed to liberate society
I watch him flapping, tapping like a bird who tries but can't flyI hold him in my arms and pray that he will get byHe is different, but with help from ushe will be understood. Anxiety takes over and I stand there watching, waiting for his tantrum
It is time to get up;I hear the pounding on the door.He yells-because it is what I deserve
We took a step on the Moon; we sent rovers to Mars.
Whites, Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, live together under one law
This country has children without mothers, children without fathers,
No matter what your name is, where you were born, what language you speak, where you live, the amount of money you have, how tall you are, how much you weigh, what your name is, what you look like. We humans are all the same and equall.
Few things ca cut you without a blade or sharp edge,
Like paper or grass
-Well maybe not grass, since they are called blades of-
But the things that cut the deepest,
Making blood flow I lazy rivers out of the body,
I cry out. Help!
I wimper and gasp with racing drops falling down my face. Help!
I am stuck in a dark, molded sphere, running into the same sides and corners. Help!
I have grown to be strong, but this is torture.
When I was little I loved to rhyme and carry paper and pencil in hand
Sadly, momma discouraged me saying crunch numbers, math is in demand
However literature and poetry have always been my muse
When I’m Holding Anthony’s Hand
It has been a struggle,
The conflict of being different from one another,
The issue of accepting one another,
He was my age when he died,
a boy who would now never grow up.
I don't know what it's like
to grow up hated and feared
by simple minds and closed hearts.
I don't know what it's like
I was born into a world in which I don’t understand,
A metaphysical dilemma portrayed as wonderland.
Consistently told what to do,
But we call this the “land of the free”.
If these shackles weren’t holding us,
Tell me how you feel when the wind gets strong enough to blow you over.
Why do I try?
Taking in everything that's happened,
How do I forget?
It'll blow over and everything will seem fine,
My great grandmother could not read and her daughter could not write. My mother passed me the pen and told me to fly. When I write, I unlock the diaries belonging to the hearts of all my mothers.
I am an infinite doubter,
But my hope weighs more.
In this lifetime I could see
Marriage equality.
Marriage isn’t about the word—it’s about a cosmic explosion of wholeness.
I sit here, thinking heavy
My young brother, no intent of harming any
Walking with a hood on is that a threat?
But with his black skin many scream death
Skittles, tea
What harm could that be?
World without hate
Is one without fright
One where the darkness
Is diminished by the light
One where all people
Are happy at peace
And discrimination
Has finally ceased
We’re built,We’re born,We love,We scorn
The worldThis placeThe people,This race.
One thought,One kind,One hope,One mind.
It was a question that plagued me even in my dreams and begged for a reply
Why haven’t we changed?
Obscure, it seemed it was, when a stranger approached me
Human beings just the same
old or young
black and free
white and chained
different eyes
different skin
hundreds of tongues
human being still
the dealer down the street
I write to know that I am alive, I write to know that I feel... the pain, the loss, the sadness, the love...within the pages as they are inked. Imprinting what is real. The memories. I withold may fade over time.
When I asked about the important people they said:
The poet is useless
The musician insane
The artist waste time
The dancer the same
Doctors make us better
Officers keep us safe
What's the difference between adding an A.
Taking away the "ER"
Now what is left to say?
We have so many rules as to when to say it
But then we get happy over being called a bad b...
All they see me is as black.
No matter my heart,
no matter my intelligence,
regardless of my dreams and desires....
all they see me is as black.
Why is black so threatening?
Compassion is something you have naught of,
Though you are not without ambition.
What is sought is difficult to find alone,
Wisdom is more easily gained together.
Children running, playing,
No worries or commitments.
Carrying on as if they have been friends forever
You would never know they just met.
Three out of four was the turn out.
Growing up in a single parent household,
College Park, Ga 30349 was my hood until my mother found a way out.
Moved us quite a few times, then we hit Henry County.
The Dream
Find it easy to get what you want
Look there kids running away with apples that they just took away
Does it seem as if people care
1964. Kitty Genovese. 28.Raped and killed while her neighbors did nothing.Her blood left a scuffing.2009. Jane Doe. 15.Raped by ten guys at a homecoming dance while several class mates laughed and joked.
Falling in love isn't real and I can't date
My father picks my husband and then that determinds my fate
When the lions roam the earth
thinking that they make the rules
the lambs cower in fear
of being reprimanded for who they are
When the lions roam the earth
believing that they are the norm
36- 24-36
The measurements of perfection
The ideal hourglass figure;
Big boobs, skinny waist, wide hips
It hurts, that you judge
But you’ll never know
I keep it inside
Buried below
All my pain,
And my pride,
Trayvon,
I'd like to know your favorite color.
Maybe you have more than one, but it's okay.
We all taste the rainbow one day
So tell me its red.....like the dark crimson slowly seeping slowly from your soul.
Kira eats with chopsticks, Steven uses cutlery
Kevin likes his food dry, Mike likes it buttery
Mark uses an alphabet similar to ours
Chang uses line patterns to represent words
I pledge allegiance to the flag,Of the United Sates of AmericaAnd to the republic for which it standsOne nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.Liberty and justice for all...
Strangers and unknown people,
I feel your stare,
No matter where you are.
Poking your nose too far into extremity,
Searching for secrets that don’t even exist;
Go look elsewhere because we do not respond,
This slave-like mentality,
quite simply the reality of our
warlike principalities
whose brazen nationality is
worn thinly by brutality
fledged from personalities
At the start, I felt them place the chains upon me.
Decisions, ideas, thoughts they decided for me,
Pushed so hard I believed they were my own,
Yet they were so different from the writing on my heart.
I am 20 years young
With the power of a king
I am you
And you are me
But we're all the same if you read between.
Oh no
Wait just a minute
Did he say that
I know he didn't
Mirrror, mirror on the wall why must we look at ourselves through you and bawl? Why can't we always see our true beauty? What wicked games you play, tricking our minds this way! If I break you will I really have 7 years of bad luck?
"I would see you fail
Before I'd let us both
succeed,"
Thought one line of track
To the other,
As the train was derailed.
Enthralled by your unbounded beauty
That I admire all seven days a sennight,
It is me that you do not see;
My heart pounds madly at your mere sight.
Although we descend from people of conflicting histories,
Why build borders,
When you can build dreams.
Why break down dreams,
When you can break down borders.
My journey was of a thousand miles
And my heart kept going like an engine.
Born into a world that is filled with pain sorrow
They always make you wish you didn’t have to face tomorrow.
A little boy who experienced nothing but hate,
Grew into a man that spoke words and caused you to meditate.
Most of us say we need it,
but do we truly believe it?
We are in constant competition to win the prize:
job positions,
checks written;
Don't look surprised.
The look you give me brings out my fear
For if I show any I will tear
For the path I creep upon will distress my womb
Until the end I will not be
Because thanks to you I vanished
People ask me what I believe all the time.I believe that beliefs have reason and rhyme.The reasons for mine are the signs of the times;the negativity and number of people that are blind.
I am Woman
I have no power
and I no longer believe that
I can make a difference
It is true that
I am silenced
And no more
I achieve
Freedom
I am Woman
Look! Look! Look!
Brown, hazelnut eyes
Shutter and shift accordingly
As long, unorthodox lashes brush away dust mites
Teeth yellow growing green
Tongue hairier than the green goblin's spleen
Why is this even a question?
Are you a boy?
Are you a girl?
Gay, straight, bi, transgender?
Does it truly matter?
Words, they have many powers,
We ignore their strength.
They keep us safe in our towers,
But yet, they can destroy as well.
All in the verbiage of those that use them
For good or ill we see their consequences.
What once was three-fifths is now one whole.
What was once whipped and chained lives in my soul.
I write because I can.
Asians can't drive, and Mexicans make trouble. You will get shot by a black man who will rob your home and steal your vehicle. All Mexican immigrants are illegal. Asians can't speak English to save their pathetic little lives.
To give in within
the social norms
and forget how we were before
would be asking the impossible,
creating the identity, masked
hide the dignity,
and forget the past.
(poems go here) Raindrops fall
From the crystal clear sky
Passing layers of life
Just passing them by
Going on a journey
Through the emptiness of air
Headfirst to the ground
Waiting to get there
I smile outwardly to you because I don't need your pity,
You see me as a happy, bubbly, and sparkling young woman.
Did you ever realize that beyond my smile my eyes are filled with stories I'll never say with my lips?
They lock you up
They take pieces of you
Inch by inch
Try to force you
Into silence
Into willful captivity
Caged birds cannot fly
But they can still sing
Do not let your song be silenced
I’ll never forget what you told me when I was in the hospital.
You said the next time I try to kill myself,
I need to make sure I go though with it.
That’s the moment I knew how much of an effect the flap of a butterfly
A man on a couch.
Jason--on a couch.
Slowly I can see the muscles tighten into place.
Small Semi-Circles form under the windows,
And a smile rests comfortably on his face:
Comfortable where no one knows
He said to me "like lungs without air"
that moment I realized we felt the same hurt
I tried to keep my air but it escaped the minute you left
its as if nothing as moved on.
Time still stands
Smiles still bright
Looking through a black girls eye
What do you see?
Ignorance is not uncommon
It’s everything it can be
Looking through a black girls eyes
I see pain
Pain that cannot be changed overnight
Don't you know we're all the same?
Skin and bones, a heart and a name.
We're living life for a purpose together
So who is to say whether
Any love is right or wrong
We come out weak, but we're trying to be strong
I don't understand
This violence
It sickens me
To be cruel is so easy
Yet to be kind is so difficult.
I find this hard to believe.
Although to look on the outside
To believe, is so difficult.
They told me I'm different -
That I'm not the same.
They said love can only come
To those who aren't gay.
I reared my head back
And laughed like a fool.
But there was no hilarity
In what I had done.
Equality
Just you and me.
Why is there discrimination
For race and orientation?
Why do we judge one another
When we could use care to smother?
Underneath it all we're the same,
America. Land of the free.
A land where you can get married based on the gender you were born with, but not based on who you fall in love with.
America. Land of the free.
I have a voice;
Strong and loud.
Can make people listen,
People in the crowd.
I know right from wrong;
I'm not sitting in a cloud.
I'll scream till you hear me;
Scream really loud!
Shhhh! Do not you dare compare him to I!
For he was not born within a skin that does not comply.
I am beautiful, of this I have no doubt,
But this is a fact, not a way to stand out.
If I am to be one thing,
let me be transparent.
No, not to fade off this earth.
Let me reveal the dreams I nurture within me.
Let my past be exposed.
Let my inspirations and drives
radiate through me—
Like a storm hovering over a barren land
Tears fill this boy’s hands
They burn like coals on fire
Fueled by words of hate and ire
If I was straight I wouldn’t be writing this damn thing
If I was straight I wouldn’t need to hide my basic humans needs
If I was straight would you still dehumanize me?
Take away my rights and claim there “not meant to be”
You act as if a crown lies on your head
and a gavel rests in your hand –
as if people were born
just to serve under you
and obey your every command
Reality will strip you of your illusion
RETURN TO THE HUNDRED ACRE WOOD.
IT’S NOT A DOOR PRIZE OR A GOODY BAG.
WE CAN TAKE IT AS A SIGN.
ROADSIDE BOMBS KEEP EXPLODING
POWERFUL PEOPLE INTERVENE.
THE PRIZE IS WON, BUT THE PEACE, AS, ALWAYS, ELUSIVE.
For example, Blocks.
Stacking rings.
Mr. Potato Head.
(What about Mrs. Potato Head? See what I mean?)
Those Little People that come in a family
their own house
their own car –
And it's not necessarily the way you look at Jesus,
But the way I don't.
And it's not necessarily the way you know how to say every line,
Of every prayer,
At every mass,
But the way I choose not to.
Two hands build a home.
Two states' lips talk days of peace,
ironically peace dies.
Two hands shoot guns and make bombs,
as our world breaks from our gifts.
Enter the Central District
Observe the milling of hims and hers coming together to create a sea of indecipherable faces
stretching out in front of me
I am a pale rose careful don't step on me
hello nice to meet you
He says he's replacing the Confederate Flag on his desktop
With a picture of Me.
I proceed to wonder if I should explain the irony of this,
Or let him roll over comfortably in his quilted ignorance.
Do you hear that
shh, listen closely
Do you hear that
shhh, listen closely
Do you hear that sound
the sound of a homeless man begging for beer,
of children crying because mommy and daddy don't wanna hear
I look back at the few years in my life and I imagine what it would have been like to NOT have gone through what I did to become the person I am today.
Mistreated.
Abused.
Like a chain, a chain that
Shackles her to her grave;
Is this any different?
Well, from shackles, she can be saved.
Living in confusion?
I know who I like.
She, her. She, her.
Keeping to myself.
I am judged by the judged,
I am strangled by religion.
Beat me up and break me down.
I am still alive.
Fill my seams with lots of dreams
Like Martin Luther King did
Walk down avenues
No need to be in school, at least not on this special holiday
Because of that man
That man there, we can do near anything
Like the earth beneath a popular tree, life is shaded.
The existence of knowledge stands firm and strong,
yet, some and many cease to acknowledge the light peeking through its leaves.
The people march to protest their oppressors
Because they no longer want to be the lesser.
They are motivated by the professors
To not be the aggressors;
The ones who fight first against the suppressors.
You are hurting her,
more than you know.
Cuz she won't admit it
Her feelings won't show.
You lacerate her,
stroke after stroke
then you kiss that bitch
she's been broken.
Angel-Headed hipsters
Lend me your ears
For I constantly find myself wondering
How many of us are really here?
How many of us are truly living our lives
I rather be called handsome than beautiful
I rather be called he than she
And i rather you say his than hers
Not miss but sir
you don't know how it feels
How it feels to feel this hurt
Discrimination
Five syllables more venomous than a rattlesnake bite.
More painful than a little girl not getting her kiss goodnight.
We all know what it is,
Yet we act as though the impact is nothing.
Gay?
Lesbian?
Bisexual?
Straight?
No, human
whats so wrong about a man saying to another man
"I do man"
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
granted to each person making us all equal
"with liberty and justice for all"
Reciting this line everyday
Do we even understand the meaning?
Is our country based on a sham?
Why make these declarations if they aren't even true.
The time passes by
unnoticed is it leaving so fly
it happens so quickly
like the change that happens in or world
from friends to enemies
Is it because we are not alike
why?the media changes who we are
Finding beauty in negative spaces
Can be a trying test of your sanity
But walking by, are a million faces
Every one with a sense of vanity
Finding beauty in negative spaces
Can be a trying test of your sanity
But walking by, are a million faces
Every one with a sense of vanity
There's something lurking in our schools,
That's far scarier than ghosts or gouls.
It's sitting there stalking you,
Waiting for the teacher's cue.
One little hour is all it would take
Peace
Peace and love
Peace and happiness
Peace and freedom
Peace and blessings
Peace in the family
Peace and positivity
Peace and hopefulness
Peace and joy
I am black, white, yellow, and brown.
I am tall, skinny, short, and round.
I am a follower of one god and many,
I am an atheist from the 21st century.
I'm ready to get out of this small minded town
people talk and preach but I never hear a sound
They ask me what I want to be when I become a man
Happy, but that's something they'll never understand
I was a pumpkin
…once
Grown and harvested in the richest soil
My flesh could have fed
My seeds could have rooted
My life could have been meaningful
But instead of enriching the potential I had,
To have humility is to think less
Of ourselves ‘cause we are God’s creation
Red, yellow, black, white, tell that to the press
For the races received much damnation.
Injustice is still there we need prayers
I watched a lady full of age
Walk slowly down the sidewalk
She walked as though there was pain in each step
And I admired her determination
She could have easily squeezed sympathy
From anyone that she meet
Once upon a time there was a man with a dream of peace, a dream of unity, a dream of equality, a strong dream.
After the storm comes the rainbow,
Vivacious colors splitting the grey.
After the clouds shines the sun,
Shining light through the tears of the sky.
Storms are alive, in you, in me, in the world.
Trapped.
That’s how I felt.
Living under oppression
under someone’s thumb-
Unable, incapable, inexplicably inept
powerless.
Here we are
Here we stand
We are living out God's own plan
We are the children of the dream
I don't need another new year to start a change
I am a change
A thirty-mile thick crystalline wall
Shrouding all sight like a bride’s lacy shawl
We chisel and chip at its translucent sides
Revealing, bit-by-bit, it slowly confides
The secret of perpetual motion
(poems go Love, a feeling, a sentiment, a knowledge....
I love her.
Her scent. Her feel. Her touch.....
She awakens me, and frightens me, as she lies next to me.
My hand through her her hair.
Is a picture a picture if it's all just white?
It’s just a blank canvas, that isn't right,
Just sitting there, alone, without any life,
And it sure ain't worth no pretty price.
My splattered blood dries
over the newly cemented pavement
where my head collided,
after my back got soaked and bruised
from the fire hydrant
cause I'm fighting the tyrant
of segregation. You can crush
The silence before a victory in equality parallels the silence after:
it is alighted by those who barter their carved flesh for candle wax,
Set afire for an enduring thread.
A strand that interweaves the disgraces of the
Today is the day for change,
Eyes up, Signs high,
Voices loud,
Jim Crowe has no hold anymore,
Chains are crumbling,
This is a revolution,
We are more than 3/5 of a man,
We are human,
Deep within a hot blistering day the
trees swaying whilst the wind is
array. The sun illuminates the slaves
scared slays and America fails to
open her young eyes.
There is little that makes sense in this world,
But justice is something I understand.
The equality of all men,
And the celebration of each other.
I guess I was half-expecting the sound of fingernails to fill the room,
but I decided to let myself drown in the silence
sink to the bottom
until looking up was my last option.
Bars, the social norm
Keeping us in, keeping them out
When will it end
This nasty game they’re playing?
But we wont back down, no
The blood fueling our bodies with oxygen
Is the same. We all feel the pain.
ALL MEN!
EQUALITY!
A great man once said.
Hidden truth is just the Whites
The Nobility
The Just.
ALL MEN!
EQUALITY!
Blacks are not included.
They said
that lines were drawn
because
black and white can’t mix.
They believed
separate but equal
could actually exist
in states
trying to step on
and stamp out supposed
The cage is open
But not to free me.
To free me from the bonds
That once held my cellmate
Whom I expect now runs
Far away from the hate
How can you see
through the fog and the lies
that surround your scarf
You told one student he was going to Hell
and another she was not feminine enough
you told me that women have it easy
“Let freedom ring!” Cried Jim Crow
Movements and martyrs,
The power in the moment
of the voice, long ago lost -stolen- Found again!
X marks the spot
This is me, this is who I am. This is my life, this is my business. I respect you, and I respect your choices.
Respect mine.
Love is love,
It’s black and white.
People are people,
And these people don’t fight.
But there’s a long road ahead.
Before, it was solid with no change
Those, not content were looking to rearrange
Although it seemed like nothing for a bunch
It was the struggle for a checkered lunch
What they were called…
Negroes. Stupid. Ignorant. Less-than. Inadequate. Niggers.
What they really were…
Citizens. People. Mothers. Children. Husbands. Workers. Human-beings.
What they endured…
Represent
The palm of my hands is the palm of yours
Represent
They represent these United State shores
Comes the tall ‘n mighty stovepipe hat
One of the world’s greatest diplomat
Black or white,
colors fade to gray,
we stand together,
United as one,
nothing can break determination,
no one can stop our stride,
equality is one small step,
Two little ones hand in hand running
In the bright golden morning over Washington.
Their counterparts dancing in the Pool of Reflection
They were leaping and wheeling in the calm morning sun.
I see these signs that say white only for me,
What it really means is you don’t know me,
I’m all around you,
Still this doesn’t bother you,
We’re fools to see the only difference is the color we see.
If it wasn't for the magic
when this universe was born-
the gravity that held it down
the sun that kept it warm
Racism why is it even here
all it does is bring us tears
Whatever happen to a world of peace
its time we bring a new life lease
We stand in unity to raise hope
so that we may live in a place of harmony
We Stand as One
Walking the streets to feel complete
No more segregation
We have now formed a whole nation
With a man that had a dream
That lead the movement to be free
We stand as one.
Flawless sun kissed skin
In infinite shades of brown.
Beauty Sculpted by God
Crafted in his favor.
Black boy
(Hook)
Last night
Night before
24 robbers at my door
I got up and let em in
Hit em in the head with a rolling pin
I tack a portrait of you to the classroom wall
--You--
Gorgeously lit in the the frame of a window
Appear in the grays and blacks and whites of the photograph
Peering questioningly at all who view You.
So is that who I am?
To be stereotyped just from my interest.
Is that who I am?
The one who's labeled just for being me.
We were once a people.
We taught together.
We fought together,
For freedom.
Our people won.
Black teachers, doctors, politicians.
The sky was the limit.
We were family.
Daddy was always there.
It is the year 1896,
And a black child born
In rural Louisiana
Sometime in 1865
Has just had her
Thirty-first birthday.
She should be happy--
Her newborn babe
Is healthy and although
There goes that ribbon floating through the air. Her dress flowing in the breeze. She's curious, she wants to go, no violence does she see. "No, my child, you must stay here. For surely that's not for you.
To sit back and watch
That is not how I do it
I stand up and say aloud
I am who I am
A gay man
I do not hide anymore
I do not let words define who I am
I stand amongst the crowd
To sit back and watch
That is not how I do it
I stand up and say aloud
I am who I am
A gay man
I do not hide anymore
I do not let words define who I am
I stand amongst the crowd
I'll give my blood
to keep your stripes red.
You can keep your white,
and I can keep my freedom.
Hate. The world I know of is filled with it. Is there anywhere where hate does not reside? Hate resides in the men who beat my father for the color of his skin. Hate resides in the policeman who arrested my uncle because he was black.
I want to live!
Live without the suppression of who I am.
Live without the regret of what I should be.
Live without the tolerance of guarded emotion.
Have a ritual of union
Without my freedom denounced
I want to live!
Live without the suppression of who I am.
Live without the regret of what I should be.
Live without the tolerance of guarded emotion.
Have a ritual of union
Without my freedom denounced
Brave hands of all shape, color, age, and size
intertwine to form links of hope and light.
Thousands saying, “Brother, sister, RISE, RISE!
Stand for equality and join the fight!”
But instead of easy victory,
With silence, we took our beating, harsh cracks and whips replaced with slurs and snide remarks.
We stand in protest, holding hands in unity while they their voices carry-- sharp barks.
my fingers fit consummately in between his and when i rest my head on his chest it rises and falls in a perfect rhythm i feel closer to him then i have ever felt to anyone else and oh the things his mouth and hands create they remind me of what it
When you see a rainbow after a storm
You can’t escape it
It illuminates there in the sky for all to see
Each color together in perfect harmony
Now what would a rainbow be
Stop for just a minute and see
the vision of what the world could be
a simple life led by light
together we can do what is right.
Women are just a different type of man
without one, neither would exsist.
we both have two arms,
two legs,
and two eyes.
two eyes that see few differences between us.
At first just yelling.
Spiteful cries,
Words like cleavers,
Got under her fingernails,
and the mahogany skin on her cheeks.
And then the stones came,
an ambush,
penetrating deeper
Equality isn't real,
some people don't even feel.
Her I am sitting alone,
looking for anyone to take me home.
African American did not have rights
All of them suffered from the lies
Until Martin Luther king Jr wasn't afraid of heights
He stood up and put his foot down on there civil rights.
The story of then,
The story of now,
and then the story yet to be unveiled:
Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
Yes I am angry. But you wouldn't know.
Staring down at the floor, how could anyone tell?
I clench my fists. Tap my foot.
I smile. I say "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am."
One heart, one mind
All of our fates, intertwined
Campaigns, rallies all for one cause
Because we as a nation, belong under God
Who made man in his own image
Gave us the power to make our decisions
It is 1960 and there are two drinking fountains.
Colored on the left, white on the right.
A young black girl shuffles her feet forward slowly in line.
They drag along the dirt and make lines in the ground.
I am pale as the moon in a sky of darkness
White against the shadows of the night
His skin is dark like a moonless sky
But his spirit is forever bright
Hey there, pretty lady.
That’s who I am tonight, Pretty Lady.
Pretty Lady this morning
Pretty Lady after this crap job
Pretty Lady now
Nobody gone hold me down
I am a man and constantly getting put down
In this world I am surrounded by hate
You take one look at me and discriminate
Paying me the lowest of the lows
Hands planted on her lap, looking at the wrinkles
Reminds her of the days she spent on her knees
Watching the houses and the trees
Looking so young but feeling so old
She does her daily do’s
Stirring and pouring
Why you so surprised?
You thought change was gonna come
But let me explain something to you
History repeats itself
And it’s just a matter of time
Before you’re back in the fields.
Why am I so different?
Confused by the color of my skin, I am ashamed.
Though He says we should love everyone, but one does not love me.
I am in pain.
Poor young man
Just loving wasn’t wrong
And still they took your life
They said “You don’t belong”
Step, step, step—
I walk the streets of Selma to obtain the unattained.
Whip, whip, whip—
The bone chilling voices of ancestors of plantation owners quiver down my spine.
Bark, bark, bark—
There are people under the steeple
Who can’t keep their eyes off the peep-hole.
Why are their minds so weak and feeble?
It’s misunderstood, so deem it evil.
Mr. Man sits in Congress so regal,
Martin Luther King had a dream
For his people to be freed
To be able to walk into any place
And be looked at beyond just race
It wasn't easy but it was worth the chase
Setting the groundwork for every other race
Years ago a flame was lit,
a world divided, all people split.
Moves were made by those daring few,
some from bus seats, some from a pew.
A line that divided was intentionally crossed,
DISCRIMINATION, that is a word that sliced deep into the hearts of many, pouring out the blood flow of confusion and a sense of deception. Just because my skin is brown and hers right beside me is white, we're different?
I was raised to hate the black man,
To spit as he passed me in the street.
I was raised to hate his wife, too,
The woman I never thought to meet.
(Also sounds appropriate as a rap)
"I had a dream" started all this buzz
they said "it ain't fair"
but they were right because--
For hundreds of years the black man has been crying
with inner tears, striped from his manly dignity and
identity, his self love has been ripped.
Who should define my race?
Is it the man who auctions my ancestor from a stand
and then lynch’s them on poisoned land.
Who should define my race?
Is it the person who label’s us because of the color of
our face.
The Black man stands strong on the slave block being
ridiculed and torched similar to King Jesus.
Living in the forlorn world of slavery, being
discriminated against by some of the white
race- due to my colored face.
Because of the pigment of my skin, they do not see me
Since I am "different", I am separated
And although they give many reasons
I know that it is not because of
My hair, or the way I dress, but
Yell at me, throw stuff at me
I am allowed here
Don't point over there
Just because a word separates us
We are the same
The sun began to set as little Johnny trudged on
three hours ago he found out that his mother was gone.
Dead by water maybe dog or cane
but all johnny knew is they didnt even know her name.
Executive Order for no order,
Was a citizen now, an enemy
all after a day that lives in infamy,
Hawaii, California, West Coast, no longer.
so called just desserts, in the desert
Equality
A word so commonly used
But not if you look at reality
Black and whites can finally be happy
Loving one another endlessly
But what happens to us?
Who want this so desperately
It was for our freedom that she fought
Our suffrage, rights, autonomy
Until her expression was brutally shot
With the bullet of misogyny.
This was not the end, she refused to eat
When Obama won they said it’s over. He won. He’s in.
I say no. One triumph does not erase past sin.
Early in May our ride had begun,
on May 4th,1961.
The buses left Washington D.C. ,
and It wasn't what America wanted to see
The pen has hit the paper, the paper has been passed saying in the United States of America, slavery no longer lasts.
They call to me
yelling shouting jeering
And this—
not my name
never never
My Name—
is all
everything
I have known.
Eyes, pale eyes—
follow glance slide past
me.
My Bones Ache
My Hairs Grey
My Pride is Gone
Can I Rest Now?
You Ask For My Seat
I Say No
My Hands Are Cuffed
Can I Rest Now?
We fight For Whats Right
Boycotting Transportation
When February rolls around, I think of all of them.
The brave strong men and women, who fought for my freedom.
Not just Martin and Rosa, Little Rock too,
But all those unsung heroes, just like me and you.
Our forefathers bled for us.
They took the pain of being
different away.
They fought against the
stubborn who would never
allow black people to have
rights.
Freedom is an essence we do not yet taste,
Slavery is scarce, but rights we still chase.
When will this hostility come to an end?
When we die off into eternity's wind?
We cannot yet feel the end of this flame,
We take for granted the freedoms we have
The biggest freedom of all to some
Are civil rights and liberty
African Americans will stand on my behalf.
We often do not look back at the past as if we were there
poetry far and wide isn't judged by color or size
poetry isn't graded like a test poetry is graded from the chest.
It’s the stare that burns like fire upon skin
The feeling like you could never belong hides within
The tear that falls slowly releases the hurt
It’s the hurt felt by generations
Everyday, every hour, every way I turn reminds me about
the days, the ways, the people who paved
this path so I can walk on
This sistah would like to say
That finally Revolution is on its way
Dig, my People?
Just as the "New Negro" replaced the "Coloreds"
Black is replacing the "New Negro"
Shoot,
Sweltering day
Solution: ice cream
Fell into unwanted trouble
Pain splattering across my back
Anger biting my arm
I hear laughing
Nothing is funny
The pain they felt
I cannot imagine
They fought for rights
With such great passion
They fought for right
With all their strength
They fought to be equal
To fight this hate
The fight for rights
The pain they felt
I cannot imagine
They fought for rights
With such great passion
They fought for right
With all their strength
They fought to be equal
To fight this hate
The fight for rights
It isn't fair.
It shouldn't matter what color
your skin or hair.
It's a type of insanity,
a crime against humanity.
With our flags, banners, and voices,
We march.
With tired bodies, overworked minds, and children in our arms,
We march.
For our daughters, granddaughters, and future generations,
We march.
They stand tall,
They stand proud,
Sadly they fall,
Within a big crowd,
On that day in ’65,
In that month of March,
We watch as some die,
In the midst of a march
If that mysterious man of old awoke
What tales would he tell?
If that mysterious man of old awoke
What praise would he sell?
Growing up, all I ever heard was how the "white man" would keep us down.
How all they ever wanted to do was see me frown.
How I was suppose to accept this as life truth
and never enjoy the fruits of my youth.
I wish on broken stars...
'cause those bright ones give off too much light,
too much light can be blinding and if i remember correctly
becoming blind was never on my bucket list so,
I settle for the dim ones instead.
I left the Home, a shabby lumbering shack,
Taking only the clothes on my back
And the chime of Symmetrical thoughts,
And walking with Ambitious steps,
Trampling the Dirty paths, and
In a time of hardship,
Many fear the fight,
Many face the fight,
Going day by day struggling,
Many face the fight,
Trying to ignore the ignorant people,
Many face the fight,
I love my civil rights,
It helps to keep state laws tight.
The 13, 14, and 15th amendment,
How dare you try to suspend it!
It protected my heritage race,
Guaranteed freedom in any place
The darkness closes in.
The bag is tight around my face.
Breathing is difficult.
Fear is choking.
The light floods in
"We're free," they say.
Votes, buses, bathrooms, parks;
We can all share.
A whistle to myself,
I whistled a song,
A song about a woman,
frightened by the black night,
frightened by what she don't understand,
she calls upon the daylight,
and then it comes,
A black woman, Rosa Parks,
Refused the white man's way.
To the police, the driver narks,
to jail she went, and got bail anyway.
The Montgomery Boycott sparks.
Boycotting the buses, day-by-day,
I felt connection there,
my yellow skin flashing in stark contrast with
the black in my right hand,
the white in my left.
Why do you cry?
I cry because I am a second-class citizen.
Why do you feel that way?
I feel this way because I am said to be no more than 3/5 of a person.
How are you gonna feel better?
Darkness was all that was there
Black, the color of a rising movement
Hate, the feeling that overflowed the nation
White, actions patterned with violence
Hope, fuel for peaceful end to hate
Darkness was all that was there
Black, the color of a rising movement
Hate, the feeling that overflowed the nation
White, actions patterned with violence
Hope, fuel for peaceful end to hate
There once was a man who said, "I have a dream."
This man's dream was to be more than what he seem.
To not be classified simply by color, but to be equal by each other.
Lost soul
Lost faces
One Color
Lost Races
Here but not in existence, just traces
Draws warnings on these spaces
Knows but doesn't feel
Wounded but never healed
Eyes open or close they see
We walk, and hold our signs in the air.
They're heavy.
But nothing is more heavy
than the unforgettable burden
of being me---us.
I love your brown skin
I can't wait to see you again
Again to see your brown skin
Marred by the stormy weather discrimination
Oh you know I love your brown skin
Some will call you a yellow bone,
The breath that must withstand the agony of birth,
as an innocent child enters the world,
also is the air that cares for the stern man,
who pays her no mind.
Her careful hands cradle the baby bird,
People being treated unfair,
Being judged for their race,
For racism is cruel,
This is why we now have Civil Rights,
Freedom for religion,
Freedom of speech,
This is why we have laws,
Rejected
Restricted
No.
Not anymore.
Their voices need to be heard, not ignored
No.
Not anymore.
They have suffered in silence
Never to be truly complete
Man and Wife?
Accepted
Superior? Infereor?
What are these words I hear?
You assign them to races,
To put them in their places
A century before,
Not quite a distant enough memory
brother fought brother
on an all too familiar soil.
Nonviolence.
The arrogant scoff and say to themselves as they rub their knuckles
“What a sissy notion. What a waste of time.”
Leafing through a history book, the pupils dilate
The Bible reads
"All Men Are Created Equal"
So why do you detest me so?
My heart beats
My brain thinks
I have emotions
Just like you.
Why do you treat me so differently?
I see on TV
Why does skin color matter?
We are people, arent we?
Black brown or white
We differ but its alright
Faces dark and faces light,
Hues so varied shining bright.
Different colors God did paint,
Beauty marked on every face.
He decreed that all should love,
Welcome, embrace, never shove,
I am a product of the Earth, much like you.
My people blossom in the motherland, soaking in the bright sun.
Our vines weave around the rough terrain, entangling in each other
We grow in these dense fields.
How could individuals that look SO different coincide with one another?
They said the brown animal could never be called a brother.
On August 28, 1968, two sides making up a quarter million marched as one number.
Civil rights are right, right?
Yes, indeed they are right,
because it say so in the phrase,
don't have an eyebrow to raise,
because civil rights are right.
Centuries of oppression,
Second rate, second-class existence,
Judgment not by character but the color of one’s skin,
Biting dogs and blasting hoses assault the dreams of decades,
The civil rights act of 1964,
we stopped discrimination and ended the war.
This was a dream, this was like heaven,
counted on the vote of 73 to 27.
"And Justice for all"
We say it everyday.
They say it too
They must,
They do.
But do they think of us
of me, of you?
No I dare say they do not.
They only think of conserving
All or Nothing,
Our neurons fire based on that principle
All or Nothing,
Our elders fought for that principle
All or Nothing,
All or Nothing,
I keep repeating those words
Rights,
not so civil,
more like fights,
and long nights,
unending battles for the freedom,
goals: we all yearn to meet them,
we all strive to gain what's ours:
equality.
child of democracy,
Together we soar,
Together we strive,
Together we are great,
Together we are alive;
But not today, no,
We have lost all equality,
Judgments and discrimination,
Create a growing fatality;
I hear the sound of guns
"Bam" "bam" “bam”
I hear the screams from afar
The horrified screams like nails
Nails screeching across a chalkboard
I hear the sound of laughter
As it fills the air
Gramma told me that it's bitterness that eats the soul,
A bitterness one cannot control.
But it is He who shed light,
On all of those who were in a fright.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
not a definition of a physical substance.
Beauty is a color,
a multitude of colors,
a sea of colors,
a flowing serpent of delicious dangerous colors,
Love and Acceptance broke through the chains of Hatred and Prejudice.
They fought long and hard and finally gained power, gained momentum;
Equal Rights for every man, white or black or in between.
We're marching for our freedom and rights
Picking up a righteous fight
The streets are paved in black and white
So join us as we march for our morning light
By the way things used to bug me
is not the same way it bugs them
but with euality and equity it bugs us all now;
I know i wasn't able to do things they did
but now i can do what they do
here they come, riding on the two buses that would have changed the world, here they come, the freedom riders here they come.
Back in the ‘60’s the movement began
From Memphis to Selma the freedom trains ran
Rallies and demos the fires did fan
As civil rights came into focus
In a bus, in the city of Montgomery,
A woman came aboard.
Little did anyone know at the time,
That this woman would change the world.
Death glides in on a wave of shadows.
He stands silently, gazing o’er the crowd.
There are Blacks, Whites, Asians, and more.
The people are blind to the threat in their midst,
Dream, Dream
That's all I ever knew
I have a few
Dream, Dream
Don't you see
We are one, not three
Dream, Dream
My skin is dark
That doesn't mean I need a mark
I had a dream last night that turned into a nightmare,I woke up still asleep and walked to school full of fear.The kids gave me weird looks and I didn't know why,
America
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave,
The Land of the Depraved and Enslaved
Where voting is a universal right fought for by centuries of plight
Rosa, Martin, and I
We agree, see eye to eye.
Ain't we all equal?
Ain't we all people?
Susan, Sojourner, and I
Also see eye to eye.
“Ain't I a woman?”
Just as good as any man?
Hi, I'm gay. And for equality I'm not afraid to fight.
No, I'm not really gay. But I got your attention, right?
It's not easy; we're not all raised the same way.
We're all born different. Some black, some white,
Imagine if in ten years we could all come together
Together as one without any separation of any kind
For there would be no color to tear us apart
The issue of religion would not be among us to only start problems
I look around at the world of which I'm a part of,
and then I always ask a simple question:
Where is all the love?
I cannot be at peace when people are not free.
This is not how we were meant to be.
W…I…I…F…M…
Can’t this acronym be a problem?
What’s In It For Me?
Not ‘she’, not ‘he’, not ‘we’ but ME
I want to be the smile that spreads across your face.
I want to be the one that no one can replace.
I want to be your dreams when your sleeping alone at night.
It doesn't matter if they think it's wrong or right.
In this great Melting Pot is there really room for more ingredients?
Careers
New Life
Education
They want it all
Seeking far and low
To become new creations
Carrying stress and pressure on behind
Affirmative action.
A good idea?
Perhaps.
Equality for all races...
Hate that word, races.
Tells of a division
Separate groups
Of black, and white.
"Why?" some ask
Not understanding
Affirmative action.
A good idea?
Perhaps.
Equality for all races...
Hate that word, races.
Tells of a division
Separate groups
Of black, and white.
"Why?" some ask
Not understanding
To be a woman in some ways more masculine than man
To be a tree whose efforts bear no flowers nor fruit
To be uninteresting, unattractive, and unloved
To be showered with compliments and praise, and,
i never liked boys
or pink things
or babysitting
or cleaning
or Barbie dolls.
i liked sweat
and ripped jeans
and books.
i liked to face blank paper head on.
Two brave lovers
Held hands with each other
As they carelessly made their way home
Neither had the intention
Of being a victim
When they took a shortcut into an alley unknown
Suddenly from behind
i was born with no silver spoon in my mouth
i'll make certain as i grow, my talents won't go to waste and head down south
as a child, i encounter many hardships
Play our war drums.
Allow the beats of this body,
these bones
to cover bruises held like a second skin from wars that lay out blue prints imprinted in between our hips.
