To Be Heard Scholarship Slam
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Thank you
Be weird, but not too weird
Be grown, but not too grown
Be smart, but not too smart
Be happy, but not too happy
Be you, but not completely you
Society dictates
Society administrates
I like to roll words around in my mouth,
clicking against my teeth, swirling in my cheeks,
melting on my tongue like sugar crystals and cotton candy.
Each one has a different flavor, you see,
I am a wind.
I am the air rushing through the leaves,
Happy and energetic,
Flying and free.
Sometimes my speed picks up.
I get angry. I run from my problems.
I know I can be too much sometimes.
One September night you say to me
Something shocking that I couldn’t quite see.
“I know this is sudden and it seems kind of fast,
If time could stop:……1,2……..How fast would it take for you to come to my side?…….3…..4……5-----------------------if time had a heart would it beep to its final breath?Am I willing to finally close the door?
Tehre are teims in my life wehn ohtres dno't konw... taht I spaek.
And, Tehre are teims in my life wehn my wrods...dno't maen a tihng.
Is it my meek vioce taht you cna't haer? Am I ifnreoir? Why msut I be ingroed?
As I look into mirror, I see a girl but not just any girl--
a mix girl.
The colors of black and white.
As I look into the mirror, I see the past of my peoples.
Sometimes I feel like I'm at the end of times. The edge of a tomorrow that will never come. Though I'm surrounded, why do I feel so lonely.
Last night I saw your face in my dream
Woke up thinking about what it could mean
Together at last / You and me
Too good to be true was what it seemed
What it felt was exactly that
I sit, thinking quietly to myself
People mill about, chatting and laughing
No one approaches
No one even notices I'm here
Alone
In a room full of people
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil." (Psalm 23:4)
Please, when I am trying to talk
Don't ignore me
I need you to listen to me
One day I might need help
Or you might need help
I might give you the same treatment you gave me
Night long drives—
like ghost through the eyes.
Flashing of memories
of tears filling the eyes.
Shattering of glass
I shattered like window and glass.My reflection was not what I wanted.Smiling I walked to my class,But I was frail bones and weak minded.
Dig and dig, research and dig
Search, dig, uncover, to what avial?
Mostly rocks and bones, but
One glimmer in the dirt
Thousands of years in a trinket
History in your hands
A rush of exictment
So this is how it all begins,
with wondering limbs threatening to leave their skins
There's a systematic pattern in all our sins
see we all have these opinions but then what we know
that the world is flat and it revolves around us
Don't adjust...
Seventy-five miles per hour.
You'd think it'd be enough.
But no, you're feeling tough,
Invincible.
One car length for every ten.
I thought we all learned it when
We were sixteen years old
Why did he have to go and leave me, now he'll never see what I get to become as a person.
Every single time I look at the shinning moon
I just think of you wishing you were here
Under the shinning light I wish so soon
Hoping to once again see you so near
You saw me in my time of need,
saw that I was a mess.
And soon the doctor said indeed,
that yes, I am depressed.
Simply put, you weren't surprised.
After all, you knew.
Let me write to say what others can’t.
Let me write to make vowels into flowers,
To make consonants into power.
Let me write the words that others chant.
Let me write to ignite fire,
I am suffocating.
The elephant in the room is breathing all the oxygen
and my lungs have become too weak to function anymore.
The tiles of my veins are cracked upon the impact
"Don't keep things bottled up."
"Telling someone what's wrong is better."
Says who?
Why should I bother?
Telling someone what's wrong is better
Only if you want to be made fun of.
My person. Several and one. I write to
Inspire. Create. Happiness.
Pieces of me spread to clouds
where I hope I won’t fall to soil.
My person keeps me in arms, holding me in safe warmth.
It doesnt matterThe words that leaveMy lipsOr how loud im screamingTo the heavensIt doesnt matterHow my Rosy red cheeksare tear stainedOr the sadness in my eyes
I look out.
It is dark; it is bright out.
The light is on; the light is out.
I cry, I pout.
Will she come home to me?
Will I be awake to see?
I grow restless.
I felt it crackIt cracked only halfway...I was still wholeThen I felt it crack some moreIn other places it fell apart...But the middle still tore
Lookest in mine eyes and tell me it isn't she, but the one that stands before you, your
most beloved, me.
The blood stains
of true love
promises the skin
that one day
they will dominate
themselves once more.
Flawless,
yet so perfect
that it doesn't matter
if your eyes turn
I write for the words,
for the thrill of letters pouring onto the page,
the power of creation,
of formation.
Not much with words
but I can give it a try
I want to express my love
but words go far and by
We are on the same page
on the same line looking at the same word
What is it that you want?
What is it that you need?
My only wish is to make you happy
Can’t you see?
It troubles me when we fight
I ache when I see you scream
And it kills me to watch you leave
Appearances really are misleading.
I do not look dark, yet I am not light.
My face has the complexion of many hardships.
When you see me, your eyes are blinded,
not by light, nor the dark,
The louder we shout the less we are heard
the less we know and understand
the louder the silence the more we hear
the more we connect and comprehend.
And like all others we falter and morph
Dear me,
What do you see
When you look into the mirror
Do you see the beauty hidden behind the mask?
Today we talked.
Not about what had happened.
We talked about random things.
We laughed.
I smiled.
I never thought i would be able to laugh and smile around you again.
But i did.
I want my time back
Every minute wasted
Every feeling that I invested
For a love that's unrequited
I want my peace of mind
Sleepless night working creating scenarios
I don't ask for a lot
But I ask for a lot
And what I'm asking is for me to be what you need
Someone you don't give up on
Please
Though i am selfish , and Possessive
The watermelon is sticky between my fingersInfinite hues spread across the mountainWhere i lay my head on your chestWe press our bodies togetherTight.
All I can hear is silence
and my feeble heart with its feeble beat,
And a muffled sort of laughter
as you parade around the street
With your sparkling eyes
and love overflowed-
I'll work hard, Mom
to buy you a house
a house you would always admire
when flipping through house catalogs
but could never afford
I'll work hard, Dad
to fill you with peace
Social destruction
from world corruption
I write to uplift the depressed
The world says,
“No space
for every race”
but I write to free the oppressed
I'm more than my GPA, awards, achievements, and brain,
I'm more than your malevolent words that slips through my finger nail,
I'm more than your sat scores and application requirements,
Just a girl.
Raised in a patriarchal family.
But what is family?
Abused at the age of 11, by family, stripped of my innocence.
Dear future lover,
Sorry,
For I've never loved a single bone.
I've never kissed the eyelids of any sad soul.
I've never held anyone at night to tell them
how I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
I wish that I could
feel you like the steeping of
my tea leaves; diffuse
you into my veins. Sadly,
I’m not worth your precious time.
You are quixotic.
The ink in my skin is like blood in my veins. I want more. I want to engrave emotions in my flesh. I want my feelings to be permanent, my motivations eternal.
They tell me I'm proper, too proper than I need to be
to proper for my "kind", I dress like "them" act like "them" "talk like "them"
"they" don't tell me that I should be more like my "they"
We're asked from an early age
What do you want to be when you grow up
It's a question designed
To make us look forward to the future
But no matter what I do
I’ve seen her so many times before.
I’ve memorized every detail about her.
Her dull brown hair that’s parted just slightly to the left,
Her skin that rarely saw the light of day,
Advice given me when I am in trial
Whether through example
Or egregious error
Or candid words
You are the explanation for my ability to reach for success.
No one realizes how truly amazing someone is
until they are gone.
Then we compute and over-analyze to understand
exactly where we went wrong.
The problem is- we live in our own little worlds
Trudging on hard land,
No one can fully tell of what life demands.
Ever so slowly on shaky legs,
We continue to endure the relentless plagues
As we give no excuse
How can you forsake our past, you asked
A past of purity and serentiy?
For war and insanity?
Ten years on this side
Two kids and a long-term partner.
He speaks the language and follows the laws,
But he is second class
Because he lacks legal status.
I want everyone to be who they are not whats cool in the streets because everybody has talents that the world should see. But whats cool in the streets will take away your peace make you think you have to put up a front to be excepted or seen.
Flew the nest? Nah,
I was nudged out by a rough wing
Lucky the air currents caught me
But where they took me
Is not where I want to be
$7.25 an hour
