poverty
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On sunny days,
They could be seen on the roadsides
Under the sun rays
On which their full skin shines
Like the morning stars
Their piercing eyes begging for food
Searching like scavengers
she said
I Love You
as i emptied my walleti had never told a stranger
I Love You
but in that momenti felt what Love wasi felt what Love is
Laying in bed,
Conflicted,
Sleep not entering your head,
Twisted.
Thinking of what,
Tomorrow brings,
Thinking of what,
Tomorrow could lead.
It's a Step up,
there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day
and the best at murder are those who preach against it
Don't make us become displaced.
Never make us feel misplaced.
that would be a disgrace.
Trauma and tragedy,
no one should have to face.
Fun games ,not war.
Say no to gore.
Hell in Haiti, Hell in Hispaniola
Hell in Haiti, Hell in Santo Domingo
Hell in Bohio, Hell in Quisqueya
The man on the corner with nothing to spare.
But who would pause to help him?
Watch as people stride past,
They do not dare look him in the eyes.
When I was a child, I tried to talk,
When I Was talking, I tried to write,
By using fingers, and piece of sticks,
To draw and write By being tought.
Bills, bills, BILLS...
...constantly, incoming.
Money, money, MONEY...
...constantly, outgoing.
Savings, virtually NONE...;
As soon as 'any' money comes in...;
I have seen the tortured minds of my generation rise out of the ashes of insanity naked in new birthborn of one-night stands to fathers angry at street-level poverty looking for another damned fix
*WHY* _I HAD_ *TO* _PONDER_
_Wandering exploring to discovery transportation, heading deep into the future_ .
BLACK AND EVERY LIVES MATTER
Much more to humanity than being White or Black, no inferiority nor superiority.
No African No American and nothang like Asian. All I see on earth is humans.
MONEY
A new young money runs this town
In new flashy cars latest in town
Owns mansions at every nook and cranny
And all the floozies throw at his feet
People worship all my goldmines
We walked a path, but not together
You walked it while danger slept
You walked it in sunny weather
You walked through on fields of heather
You walked while the streams ran wet
Hill homes and cars and a place in front,
we run a race I lost at birth
with house wheels and buses.
I cross the line
to stand in dingy dark, cast by prestige.
And just like that
The world became quieter
Hearts grew heavier
People's privilege shone a little brighter
And the great big tide
Kindled humanity's desire to be kinder.
I am from moving boxes scattered, littered on hallway floors
From unpaid utility bills, arguments and slamming doors
I am from tax return Christmas gifts and food stamp Thanksgivings
For many
this is a time of festivity,
of good tidings,
gifts,
food and family...
While the words,
" merry" and " happy"
float in the air
like shimmering snowflakes.
On the streets is where I lie,
Obscured from the peasants,
Merrily sauntering by,
Maybe, an opaque veil besets me,
From the niggardly world,
My infinite prayers never seem to be heard.
I have a dream
To help those in need.
To help set them free from their past sufferings.
To help them keep hope when they're without a home.
I'll provide a place where they're finally thrown a bone.
Dressed in grey and black attire
Waiting at the ready
“Do you need help?”
“Have a nice day!”
Aged eyes and pursed lips
Forced into a smile.
A family at home? A life alone?
The opportunity to do what others can’t
Inspires me to win.
This might come off strange and self-serving.
Some might call it a sin.
Desert
Broken dreams.
Fronteirs
of symbolic darkness.
This is Land's end
( not the clothing company)
just
sun,
scorching summer's skin
and in winter
a cold that
permeates
Somewhere in the heat
of a jungle,
the tundra's cold,
on a hillside,
- the desert,
in a sprawling city,
or ruined village,
in a camp,
settlement,
or colony,
in a lone hut,
Lurking, screeching, rumbling,
Every day,
The hunger inside of me,
Is a perpetual prey,
My body screams,
My mind can’t keep straight,
My brain keeps puzzling,
The rest of my foredoomed fate.
Orthopedic surgeon fled Vietnam at age fourteen
Old Lady works full-time and rescues children in between
My doctor doesn't know mother died from a complication of this surgery
The sounds of joy during the holidays The warm climate, nothing like the cold december i know Music bounces from walls to walls Kids laughter laced with nothing but joy They who don't know what a christmas dinner is What christmas presents are or
What is it to be an adult?
A grown-up?
Oh to be free,
to have control over all the
little
details and choices
All I ever wished for was a home
It was hard growing up
Food was scarce and so was love
I felt my heart slowly turning cold
Beauty from the ashes Beauty from the choas In dolourfull darkness He'll kiss your lost soul Soul of bard fading away My destination is far away Let all these wounds burn Heal me and take me away Thorns in the roses Roses in the thorns Beauty in d
Beauty from the ashes
Beauty from the choas
In dolourfull darkness
He'll kiss your lost soul
Soul of bard fading away
My destination is far away
Let all these wounds burn
Heal me and take me away
My work duty first had me weary
the car was supposed to work in theory
these two had the future looking weary
unknown to me, adulthood was merely one giant query
When I got on my knees for church
And asked who am I doing this for?
When I watched a man die on the street
And wondered why anyone need be poor?
When I heard students cry out for peers shot dead
When I think about how I've glowed up
It'll make you want to throw up
If you've seen the things I've seen
And you did the things I did
It'll make you wonder how I ever really growed up
It wasn't until one day,
A Thursday to be exact,
That I opened my eyes slowly
To the shimmering beams of light.
Soaked deep beneath my skin,
I welcomed the light.
The glow emitted from within me
Billionaires donating money
donating money to a burnt down cathedral
poor people donating old clothes to other in need
billionaires donating money
donating meant to a burnt down cathedral
Listen let me tell you about BOX Not a container with a flat base and sides typically square or rectangular and having a lid I wanna personify the BOX I knew as a kid See, BOX was close minded (get it box closed minded)...... NO BOX WAS closed....
All I want to do is lay here and stay ;
Thy kindest hearts always pray for a change ;
But God don't answer when the skies are gray;
The child inside me cries for no long range .
I want to speak one more Language
That everybody can easily speak
Same as our food and the beverage
If not, it means, we are weak
Pull the cloak im so broke yet “woke”
Haven’t spoke had to joke
I'm not a pessimistic I just stay true with the statistics
Let's face it i don't have a chance so give me that glance
"Somewhere", spoke the grey lips in the wall.Somewhere before sunrise,before the first bird crows to dawnand the apathetic are yet to uncurlthe grit that gathers like dustbetween the fold of shallow eyes.
A dog named Hunger gnaws on my stomach
Growls at me whenever I cannot eat
Demands my attention while I’m in class
He has a sister who lives in my mind
Her name is Anxiety
While she does not bite me
Fast food every night might sound ideal to a kid
but it left her often hungry for more.
She'd rummage through half-empty cupboards,
the kithen walls sticky with cigarette tar,
It all starts with laughs, hopes, and dreams. But then, she slaps you with lonesome.
When I think of the world I'm afraid to look at what it has become.
People struggle through the darkness that has risen all through out the pastures of their very land.
Based off my understanding ,
Poetry can reveal, come through pain ,can politely hide, or it can simply amplify anything and anyone.
Based off my understanding ,
Poetry can reveal, come through pain ,can politely hide, or it can simply amplify anything and anyone.
thank you
for glancing at me
then looking away
like you didn’t see me
thank you
for kicking me
No matter how late we came home on a winter night,
there were always enough lights to see with;
Lemay Ferry Road is always busy.
That was long before the
monster named fentanyl
snatched my cousin Mikey
I look up at the night sky,through a windshield.The deep, indigo sky, andI look to the stars,
each a person somewhere in the world.Are they lookingup at these same stars,this same sky, through
There goes the pop shop,
on the corner of 42nd
with pop rocks,
where the Candy Lady beckons
There are too many problems to solve at once. Just pick one okay?
We need to get our priorities straight
I don’t think we can save the whales if there are 4 white rhinos left
poetry.
it used to be what we read in school;
harsh lines for more educated, eloquent, and sheltered minds.
minds untorn by the society around them.
devoid of thoughts of depression,
They are some of many billions
Some do walk-ins, some do sit-ins
One eats plenty, enough for four
One is but a raw, empty core
Dingy green metal
Flecks of paint flaking off like dandruff
Corners set in stagnant water,
Leechy muck in the slimerot of the shadows
Little door slides open with a screech
On a warm summer day, a young child was walking with her parents through the New York City shops. A crisp 20 dollar bill was clutched in her hand, ruffling in the slight breeze as she skipped happily about.
Put down the pen for just a moment.
Writing doesn't feed the poor.
Pamphlets cannot house an orphan,
Fliers don't eradicate gore.
You're offended by middle fingers,
But war and famine are okay.
I.
Dear Tesfaye,
I wish you didn’t have to grow up like this.
I wish there was more I could do to help.
You are only four,
still too young to fully understand.
Poverty
Homeless
Looks so different in the eyes of strangers
No one ever tells you homeless looks like attention
from the eyes and bodies of strangers
Body after body, night after night.
A town divided I understand I see a town divided you know, you against me
South side getting the short ride of a long route that never seems to stop
Our streets hoarded with paper as far as the eye can see
Dear 1929,
No shoes, no food, no water,
The Great Depression is here.
No toys, no games, no clothes,
Kids like me have so much to fear.
No roof on top of my head at night,
Dear daughter or son, I'm sorry didn't make it to your first birthday. So much to you I wanted to say. Through the years I shedded many tears, Cause the days with you were never near. I made this choice,
I used to live in a world
of freshly squeezed laundry,
Himalayan pink salt on Atlantic salmon,
and thermostatic, triple jet showers.
But now I live in a world
of re-worn t-shirts, mouldy
A wax sky drips over a sidewalk corner
Illuminated by a burning-wick sun
As I smile at the old men living there,
Baked and leathery and meaning everything to nothing
Did a good heart get you far
As simple as it seems
Did a good mom get you sharp
As simple as her seams
Did a good heart feed your soul
Or did it starve you to death
What does it take to stay awake
And not hate
Every eye that passes by
Makes me wonder if they try
Or do they categorize
My kind within wicked lies
As if every time a brother dies
Eyes cold as
Concrete
Even when not walking the streets
The halls
So closed off
From the poverty we breath
Considered clean
Cuz the sheen
Easier's to see
Away from the hood
Yes,
college was really on my mind as I watched
my parents going at each other's throats,
my uncle throwin in a pinch every 20 minutes,
and the kids being hungry.
When my world was a modge-podge of
Just outside Pittsburgh. The Steel City.
An industrial America-
a blue collar America.
A blue collar America that survives on
$1000 every 2 weeks
power company grace periods
An eleven year old hops the steps
up to the trailer they live in.
The door clangs shut, as the frame is warped.
Poverty-stricken Tennessee, United States.
An eleven year old in jeans and a hoodie
Little Red
A Peculiar girl
The Wolf
A Monstrous Me
The Woods
No place for little girls
I was there when she first wandered in
The time she met me
The Big Bad
It was the Westside of the City of Wind.
The year 1998. The time when the sun still hid shyly behind the moon's dark embrace.
A fire station. Dawn.
A mother of two, soon to become a mother of none.
It was told that a leader of many
Would not see the morning moon.
That the giver of plenty,
Would die too soon.
Today, he decides to live alongside The Light’s curse.
Once upon a time,
the beginning 'O' was never embroidered with gold,
life was void of materialistic tangents;
our modern albatrosses
But sufficied with compassion,
Oh how they made us love these chains,
we wear them everyday.
Our boys are cuffed and pulled away.
We'll never see a change.
Whether wearing them around our necks,
or close the gate at night.
I was taught to write poetry
not by man, nor educationally.
We never had the money;
spent most of what we had,
to feed each belly in our homestead.
I too, hear America singing
Many millions of songs.
I hear the song of my teachers
All they say is listen.
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?
I see my people walking through the streets covered in a graffiti of shame and pain,
A depression that came from the time of apartheid,
Walls covered in memories of frustration,
I miss that time
when people looked at pigeons,
dancing with the wind.
Now there's too much crime.
In my mind...
I wonder about, "the life of pigeons"
Growing up, the happy endings are shoved down our throats
Like a spoon full of sugar
While other kids grow up with the harsh realities of their lives
She is afraid of fading into history
of being an unknown story among the classics
of forgotten churchgoers who live on their knees
She doesn't know how she's going to pay the bills
A night in the city
T'was when the story began,
After a young girl sought
To buy her mother a fan.
The night was shining,
Though with limited light,
And could still clearly see
we are not poor
we just lacked the resources that would have allowed us
to own
the same toys
that some of our friends
owned
we were rich
with imagination
and reads
At 7:30
Every morning,
In robotic voices,
We pledge our loyalty to our country.
Are our voices robotic
Because of repetition?
America
How could you?
I trusted you,
I believed in you,
And now with every passing day I weep
As this once great nation is now in shambles.
How could we stray so far
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault that you could not make something of yourself, in a land that gives
Everything...
Not my fault...not my problem...
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault that you could not make something of yourself, in a land that gives
Everything...
Not my fault...not my problem...
Not my fault,
They say
The land of opportunity
where all can rise beyond
no class, no division
freedom and prosperity at will.
Work hard
reach for the stars
taste ambition
dream of "success".
The shivering little girl
Stared at the well-dressed business man
Her chapped lips cracked from the strong breeze
That blew across her raw face
The beauty of those oppressed by those with money.
You often wonder if they think you're funny.
If being poor and having to rely on the next paycheck is a reason to be scorned.
Land of the free. Land of poverty.
In this country you’re judged on sexuality, and ethnicity.
In actuality, we shouldn’t be a theocracy.
We got legality that we can believe,
Black Birds
Black birds, black birds
fly in the sky.
Oh black birds, black birds
why aren’t your words being heard.
It still needs work
But we are a land like no other.
America has everything -
But sometimes not in the right quantities
I live well
My parents feed me every night
My stomach is never empty
The latest toys fall into my lap
A stay at home mother for me to cry to
I had not realized
You hear it all the time
I want to change the world
I want to save it
But how
How can I
How can you
Dreams sparked in thoughts
For money beyond,
For love and respect and freedom,
For bright musical schools,
Dreams dropped in two dollar days,
In dark "school" hallways,
My thoughts are too loud to
not let out,
But I don't
know what to
write about,
the rhymes spout
but they all sound the same,
they fall from
the clouds where
my soul hides,
When my parents first came to America,They thought it would unite their broken states of mind
My mother came from a poor family,But immigrant soil pinched pennies harder than she could
Maybe, just maybe
We might all be able to come together
Disregard race, religion, gender, age and social status
America the free
But are we really free?
Striving to contain a positive image
Looking into the mirror
Not many like what they see
Remain a healthy mindset is what I strive to do
When did the cost of living,
Become so expensive.
Working two full-time jobs,
Minnimum wage,
Still cant afford to eat.
The lampshade,
Needs to be dusted again,
And so does the vase,
America, aren't you supposed to be free?
A land free of racism, injustice, and just letting me be me?
Every day we turn on the news,
A man is dead, his wife and unborn baby too.
America is not great and the American Dream is fake.
We are still fighting battles that should have been won over 100 years ago.
Racism and slavery...it seems we have just given up
How about our education it's really bad
The water is too murky
The water is too gray.
The water is too polluted.
To see the fish at bay.
For the fisherman had never thought
That his fish would have never been caught
Fade up lights 2 and 3!
We want to have a general wash on the poverty,
So the audience can see but not truly see the details of
The decaying clothes and caved in stomachs and
Does anyone care what goes on in the world?
With people that hunger and need much care?
They have bloated stomachs and legs all curled,
All shriveled, yet young, and entirely bare.
My grandmother saw America
not as a land of opportunity,
but as a last resort.
Taking off only when there was nothing left
Leaving because a twenty-six-year-old with four children
cannot provide on a dime.
It all started when I was nine years old
daddy saw a body instead of his little girl
he jumped right on it and didn't realize that was my first moment of being traumatized
now mamma wanna ask what we did for holidays
I am a part of Generation Z and amending society
I wonder what waits for me after this inaguration
I hear voices in protest and anger
Get off of those streets
They are filled with confusion
Just leave those dark clouds behind
Nothing but pure frustration
When you live in a state of poverty
Gloomy moments will appear
For being able to walk outside and look at the constellations,
I am thankful.
I spend hours outside tracing the stars with my fingertips,
creating combinations astronomers haven't even thought of yet.
Pop your collar,
working class hippie,
rainbow kid in work boots-
scorch the earth
with defined footprints.
We got to be greatly blessed for what we got.
I'm in the united states and I thought that was a stressful place to reside or plot
If you can think realistically,
A child's terrified eyes sees the world for the violent drunk it is
One is not born immune to the immersive experience
Of domination, damnation,
Filthy bodies and even filthier minds.
The dark scenery
Is what will appear
You have nothing going for you
Do I make myself very clear?
You are asking for trouble
When you live in the streets
Uncertainty will surround you
A get away from norm,
the every day racial tension in Newark takes its toll,
store after store I am pre-judged as a thief ,
Not knowing I am a college student who just happens to be striving for a degree.
I think about it quite often,
actually,
how some people can't even afford a coffin,
to bury their loved ones in.
Over here it's a bad place to live,
all the deaths, people can only forgive,
everyday there is shootings,
no one can do anything about it but mourn.
Now a days people are negative,
If the entire world were molded into one being
It would have its hand extending out into space
Seeking the aid of another world
Man has devastated the planet
Could someone bring back,
My innocent childhood days?
Even today on roadside,
I break stones with hammer,
In the scorching sun.
The world is a garden
Where the positives and negatives dwell.
Where beautiful things can happen;
where caterpillars morph into precious butterflies,
Sitting on the windowsill, Let's pop another pill.I see the life leave your eyes, All they did was ostracize.
You sleep in a bedI sleep in the streetsI'm your shadow You eat at restaurants I eat from garbage cansI'm your shadow You're treated with respect and careI'm left in the streets, helpless for others to stareI'm your shadow I'm human just like you,
I never understood how a city could be divided in two.
Nairobi City. The city of two. The rich and the poor too.
This is where you succeed if you know who to talk to,
To wake up every crack of dawn and
raise your head to
find nothing is protecting you is quite
dsheartening.
To be judged and ignored from the rest of society.
To be shamed and labeled because
(Businessman Perspective)
Cold and hungry as I tried to find a place to rest,
I finally see a small warm cafe at the end of the road.
I started to jog and cross my arms in front of my chest,
When the rent is past due and we're struggling for extra money
I have poetry.
When I'm sitting in the dark with lit candles but the mood isn't lovely
I have poetry.
In the biting cold I walk,
Barefoot and in tattered attire,
My dirty pants, ripped at the knees,
Folded at the waist and tied to my body
By an old and dirty rope coming apart,
This is me, this is morning,
His shoes’ soles are gone from the incessant walking.
Under the scorching sun he is bathed in sweat.
Armed with numerous certificates,
He embarks on a futile job hunting journey.
I am the early bird
Leaving my nest on the daily to catch my worm
But I am not your usual early bird,
For I just never catch the worm.
The early bird that’s always unlucky.
Dear America,
Look past your built in pools,
There are kids lonely and afraid beyond them,
They have seen life sized doll pieces scattered on their lush green lawns,
They have been taught to walk like soldiers,
the raindrop
that splatters
on the kitchen
counter means
there is a leak
in the roof again
my mother takes
an extra shift at
night my father
I suppose I would like You to know that I am sorry.
That’s how all apologies and the like are supposed to begin,
With that admission of guilt or regret or something that tastes like bile
Overuse, Overthink, Oversimplify
The degree to which we suffer is surely to the nth
Forced to lose humanity, when I can't pay my rent
Swear to god
As I roam the poor streets of Ethiopia,
The wails of the children come to my attention.
I look to my left and see the worn-out, oversized clothes
That hang loosely on their bodies.
I am greed, want.She is need, lack.
I am anger and frustration.She is hope, tenacity.
She is yellowamidst the grey that I'm become.
But I am success, money.And she is poverty, dust.
A Wise Man is the Common Man; and the common be the wise
One sits lavished in a chair, while the other bites back at his demise
You cannot say this is not true; for a strong truth brings the lie
I struggle constantly, just like everybody else. Eyeing myself in the mirror, I look plump in all of the places I shouldn't. I want to work out, but I've got other things on my list that I'd rather do.
Shadows,
Acrosss the field,
Across the meadow,
Across the lawn and across the room,
As the adults yawn and the children snore.
Lollipops, gumdrops,
Nightmares and blessed dreams,
Every day, there’s enormous bloodshed,
Terrorists chopping off heads in the Middle East,
Thugs throwing acid in girls schools in Africa,
Drugs, kidnap, and murder in South America,
Sometimes,
I wake up in the middle of the night
breathless.
My lungs seem to convulse,
and each inhalation of air seems not to be
enough for each exhalation too quickly
follows.
Food.
Water.
Love.
Hope.
People say these things keep them alive. And they do.
They make life worth living. They give hu-
mans the spark they need to continue on.
But when they’re gone,
Everybody has a strength and a weakness in their life that they have to deal with as a blessing or a challenge. But the one thing that I think is important and absolutely need is shelter.
When I think poverty, here's what I see,
Beaten down faces and thousands of frowns
Shutdown dreams in the land of the free
In order to survive,
You need love,
Water,
Shelter,
Food.
But what if you don't have that?
What if you're
stranded
on an island?
You'd need to make with what you got.
A island.
I need nothing but my past.
I have no more expectations for the future.
I want nothing in the moment.
City of grunge
City of decay
City of aspiration
Maybe just the start
forget the past likewise
look to the future
I was born in December of 96
A winter baby indeed
I am left handed, so strange as being the first girl to mommy
Three big brothers a father and a momma, but never a full house
So to prosper was a must
I'm mad.I'm mad that when I talk about important things they roll their eyes.I'm mad that I'm a bitch for having opinions,or boring for being a(stupid)(shallow) (unambitious) girl.
– Where is the Justice?
My feet matches on oil,
But lives in a world full of self-doubts and loss,
Yet in the faces of challenges, I strive to live on, because in victory tells the story.
In the corner sits my daughter,Her skin dry and lips chapped<br>She begs those who walk by for water<br>The people walk by, their responses are apt<br>No says one woman, we need some for us<br>Although my daughter cries, an
Lightning cracks ---
I sleep like a sailor all alone on rough seas
The night devils: they torment me
All alone in my lonely dreams
I dream I’ve made mistakes.
Now, ocean water overtakes
An undergraduate composed of no less
than one thirty second ramen
raw as I am half baked
Shaped from vacant shells and grit
Mad, sad, glad,
is always the right time for Chocolate.
I am the flavor of all love,
of all rejoice, and all morn.
I give people the fulfilling feeling in their tummies
I am the scars my parents put on me as a child. From the abuse mentally and physically. Little did they know they scarred me sociologically too.
The wind blows cold outside,
The sun is flickering out.
The grass grows dry and crumbles down
Around the big blue tent.
I am a black teen
living in a community of depair and poverty
Growing up in a household of 3
Foodstamps wasnt really supporting me
Finacially money really wasnt coming my way
There was a little girl I knew
Born to a drug addict, the youngest of five,
Forced to survive on rubble and scraps
Because checks were stretched thin
Between sins and rent.
What does awesome mean to you?
When you think of awesome
You think of that great big success
You think of acing that end-of-year test
We think of celebrations and parties
And being our best
I've tried so hard to silence the silenceI've waited so long and haven't seem much but little ripples in the darknessI'm not satisfiedI'm not OK with what I've been taught to think is real.
WE
We are known for being ignorant, and dirty,
Known for being weak, and unworthy
Known for being corrupted and inconsiderate.
and we know
Imagine living with a family of disorders,
darkness riding upon corners.
Imagine living with an anorexic sister, autistic brother,
Through the darkness
Of a power bill
Overdue and unpaid
I stayed strong
Through the temptations
Of marriage
Offering me a way out
Of poverty
I stood on my own
I just want to spend more of my life loving.more of it giving.I want to live my life withan outstretched hand,want my treasured memories to be full ofsmiles from people I have fed.
The unexpected comfort I have found
sleeping on this furniture
my sister diagonal from me.
my mother parallel to me.
my pride inexistestent.
I do not complain because
it is either this couch or
resposible and inpendent
preparing to my own rent
not afraid of new beginnigs
keeping my optimstic attutude, I'll never stop grinning
senior in high school
working hard not to be another misguided fool
Waking up from a dream feeling all bubbly
While everyone else looks at the world humbly
I get out of bed everyday with the thought
That today and no later is the day that I ought
Scared screams fill the streets,
As they watch their city torn,
From the roots of the trees,
To the fields of corn.
Their small homes fall,
And burn to the ground,
With flames so tall,
We are migratory kids,
From our own native home,
End up in cities looking for life,
Strive here and there for life and food,
Sleep and live under bridge and streets,
Black is night, white is noon,
Dense clouds are black, they have rain,
Black is shade, cools us all,
Black is night, time to relax,
Black is dusky, defuses heat,
I live in a city
And it is a pity
For ten years it was tolerated
Now- I'm exasperated
There isn't shit to do
When you're full of vigor and youth
I live in what you call the ghetto- I call it the hood
And, we don't all live in Ferguson, MO.
Stifling sounds of a chair colliding with the adjacent wall send vibrations throughout my room.
As a woman I am told to be quiet
Keep it down
They try to keep me down
Below you, looking up
On my knees, I exist only in ways that service you
They want me to hear, not to speak
Stop it
I'm sorry kids
But yes,
There's no afterlife
And we will die
You wonder why
I did this
Melted ice caps and
Starved kids
As if
Because I know
I can tell you
I'm tired of looking at the human race in the eyes
To see death, poverty, abuse all covered up by lies
We told ourselves it wouldn't happen again
But it never stopped my fellow men
As I drive, watching my city streets roll past me
I see the tear stained faces of broken homes
And children being raised by strangers.
I see the garbage cluttered streets of SE,
Stop being poor
How?
Magic?
You’re assuming we got here because we’re
Lazy
Unemployed
Uneducated
Well news flash we’re not
Stop being poor
Single mothers on welfare
We have a tendency to hideEveryday before leaving homeWe put on our maskAnd leave to go into the real worldThere's almost no room for authenticityHow can we "just" be ourselves?Your beliefs, my opinion,
College, one powerful place to change our lives. A place that strikes fear STRONG emotion. A place that some can't even get a chance to start. Parents with other ideas not focused on your future but there's.
I have new shoes.
They were my cousin's and then my sister's, and now they're mine.
They may not light up or clack or shine
And you won't find them on TV or ads
But if you ask me
They don't scuff.
We all have a meaning to be in this world.
What is mine?
I am not so sure yet, but I intend on finding out soon.
Soon, everything will be different. I'll be going away from those who have loved me in my darkest times.
She used to be the girl wrapping up school lunch to take home
She used to be the girl who never had new clothes
She used to be the girl who needed help
They are the family that sleeps hungry
I remember,
when I was fourteen,
I found out my friend had been raped.
I didn't even know what it meant
back then.
My friend,
she was a drug addict.
Living with the trauma.
Why the fuck do I have to pay for college?
I'm trying to educate myself & spread happiness to the world.
STOP!
WHATEVER IS DISTRACTING YOU...
STOP!
Live in the moment and listen up.
I am talking to everybody,
and I am hoping all of you will take these words to heart,
so please,
please,
He struggles to find his place in this world
But for putting up walls, he should get an award
Because the only person he shares his feelings with
Would never even be able to understand it
One day I met a kingAnd asked him why he cried. ''There isn't gold enough,'' he said, ''To leave it all behind'' --
I remember the lady remembering her first son
She taught him his first word, his first step turned run.
His first tear, how she’d stop to kiss it
They say you're strong,
When you've been through something.
I say they're wrong.
I say they know nothing.
Money, money, money
For the nourishing food we eat
Along with a refreshing drink
And the occasional sweet treat
When did this world become full of greed, wealth,
and giving cruelty to the ones that don't have it?
How do we give a raise to politicians,
and leave our troops with no breakfast to eat?
Sounds chiming in my head, what
Is that? I think
I roll off the top bunk.
THUMP! Squeak!
Money
There's so much of it in the world
but why don't I have any of it?
Why does my family struggle so much
when others have money coming out of their ears?
I'm stuck trying to figure out
Wall street looms above you as you takeyour walk across the graduation stageyour walk down the aisleyour walk around the neighborhood,draining you with the fangs that they call debt.
If I could have my dream job, I’d be on my way to medical school because I wouldn’t have to worry about loans or tuitions.
Abused freedom.
What has this country become ?
Looking around.
Abandon & filth is all that I found.
What Happened ?
From colorful, joyful, musical, Hopeful,
Sickness, poverty, nations of the illUncured, losing the battle not at will
Nations crumbling beneath our feetNations tearing at the seams
A few streets down
away from this perfected outer shell of blissful indulgence that we have created
lies
a city of
distorted faces,
starvation,
violence.
Like a Concrete Jungle
Animals of the street
standing on the corner bringing all the heat
brown buidings
look like sideways slaveships
hold about 1000s people
in each complex
black
I try to stay away from you
But you keep on coming back
I see the desperation
but I do not give a flack
You're a crazy creepy stalking pig
who I want far, far away
but you just seem to return to me
A never ending line of bills
Needing to be paid at the end of the month
Debt is in the trash bin.
Poverty is as stifling as the Miami heat on a Summer's day.
How can I make it?
How can I go on?
Baby Girl!!
What are you doing?!!
Do you care about your life?
Being a mother isn't easy
Being a single mother is harder
Being a single, young mother is damn near impossible.
I don't like hate.
Judgement makes me irate.
Racism makes me want to scream.
Homophobia makes me angry.
I'm sick of people being mean,
bullying because of their own insecurities,
Another flight overhead of the Arctic
Flying into smog-filled Beijing, the sky is a friend who has dyed her hair black
A friend who is a stranger, a friend who smokes.
We walk past, ignore, and don't even aknowlege the people on Earth viewed as peasent to most
the look of fear in their eyes and destruction on their souls as they walk down the road
they happen to call it home
She stands on the corner, barely 18
Hasn't showered in days but waits
Waits for a man who needs an illegal touch
The body of an adolescent becomes tainted
She looks for independence on an incredibly tight leash
Don't waste my time
each millisecond I won't be able to buy into existence
I cannot undo conversations
we've had.
I can't take back the things I've said.
Each millisecond it takes to breathe
Walk a mile in my shoes
Then you’ll know what it’s like to choose
Between making a life of your own and leaving the nest
I saw that man on the side of the streetBegging for money for food to eatCause his last meal was two days agoAnd he's dying of starvation but you just say "So?"Desensitized to the pain of these people
My dream job is not too popular, but one that completes me.
To feed the poor, clothe the naked, share some water if need be.
It calls me when I see the homeless.
It calls me when I feel hungry.
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.?
Child of poverty
Child of immigrants
Doesn't know any other world until it's time to go to school
In Boyle Heights, you're just like everybody else except maybe not as brown
What can a dollar do?
Pay for lunch,
A car,
College.
Well, maybe not a dollar
Though at least it helps.
But while we eat and drive and learn
A child dies from hunger
A woman wishes
She cries every night
tears streaming down her face
She needs to be loved again
she's forgotten the taste.
I see them
I ignore them
I passed by them
I see you
Having a sign
"F*CK THE POOR"
I stand up
Saying that's not humane
Stating that he should help
Walking few blocks down
Jose had a dream that he would be an educated man
Jose had a dream that he would live better than his parents
Jose had a dream that he would give back to his parents
We often ignore the poor and the hungry.
Because we never give thanks for what we have.
If we can't appreciate our own things,
How can we help others in need?
The saddest part of it all,
Growing up all I knew was poverty.
"Put that back!"
"We cannot afford that."
I come from a life where education was a scapgoat.
I come from hand-me-downs, and cheap shoes.
Hush little baby close your eyes,
Hide from the world of darkness and lies.
Hide from the fear that plagues your day,
Hide from the world that shuts you away.
I was walking along the streets one day
And saw a man with a dog;
Except the man was homeless and the dog was dead
And the man was dirty and the dog was not breathing
The kids on the street
Have something to eat
With a warm fluffy bed
To cradle their head.
A nice little home
With no reason to moan
And a doll in her hand
That she calls Little Joan.
A Photograph of The Past
I’m laying here, the ceiling’s caving in.
I’m staring up in a gaze waiting for the fallout.
I’m still, I will not move. I will lose myself in this crumble.
The cost of a child.
Two thousand forty one dollars.
Just to have a child.
The cost of good health.
Three hundred twenty eight dollars.
Just to stay healthy.
If I had the power,
Well first I’d need an extra hour.
If I had the power,
Perhaps the world would be less sour.
If I look at their faces,
I feel pity but, time races.
What Would You Change Scholarship Slam
How could the world be so cold?
Yet we act so naive,
People are out in the streets,
Waiting to be retrieved.
"OMG you too Ms. Imani?You see I... I thought I was the only"Thats what this young girl said to meas she glared at meno longer feeling lonely.
If I can change one thing about the world
what would be I would say where to start
poverty strickin lows
violence abuse depression
starvation and weather crisis
so many topics that need attention
The land of dreams
but I'm home to schemers
lost dreamers through cold
realities of life hoping just to see the day
no thought on what the future lies
only hoping to everything done by sunset
Let’s just think
If there is one thing that could be changed
The thing to be changed would be drastic
It would affect many people and many countries
No where to go,
No food to eat.
What happened to living?
Making a better life for myself?
This country that they've fought for,
Caused them so many problems.
The veterans,
It all started when I was just a thought in my mothers mind
A guessing game for the ages
I waited
Waited in the corners of my mothers heart
In the nutrient enriched darkness of uncertainty
Of care
If money is the source of all evil, then we must be living in hell
Corporate America is in control and I compare it to jail
Since we are all victims to it, somebody show me my cell
The world in shambles
Not everyone can see, but those who do suffer most
Sadness, sickness, Hunger
Children suffering, without a chance to live
Children that could change the world
Stuck, Missing, Poor
forces of Darkness quever never ending tales
ocean waves carry distant cries
The never ending ache on our backs
sleepless night with dancing bits
hope are here for an unchanging soul
Oreo
To think a childhood could reincarnate itself in mockery
Oreo
that's what they call me
Oreo
because I'm too black to be white, but not black enough to BE black
Oreo
The beginning of my life shaped the end.
Bare bones exposed from under nourishment
Made me want to dig myself out of the hole we were living in.
From violent nights came a curiosity of those violent actions.
Grief and illness,
fear and restlessness,
these horrors brand,
upon children of foreign lands.
Living in affluence,
without consequence,
children free to dream,
That little Uganda boy
Tripping, falling over glass
Decay and forgotten objects linger
When does it stop?
When do the bruises cease, And absent peace subside from the mind of that little Uganda boy
In hard times as these
Life has a strong cost.
To be begging on your knees,
And all hope to be tossed.
I too, was the child who longed see a meal.
I saw lavish spending from a friend.
In hard times as these
Life has a strong cost.
To be begging on your knees,
And all hope to be tossed.
I too, was the child who longed see a meal.
I saw lavish spending from a friend.
In hard times as these
Life has a strong cost.
To be begging on your knees,
And all hope to be tossed.
I too, was the child who longed see a meal.
I saw lavish spending from a friend.
In hard times as these
Life has a strong cost.
To be begging on your knees,
And all hope to be tossed.
I too, was the child who longed see a meal.
I saw lavish spending from a friend.
In hard times as these
Life has a strong cost.
To be begging on your knees,
And all hope to be tossed.
I too, was the child who longed see a meal.
I saw lavish spending from a friend.
This is their place,
the place they freely roam;
This is their place,
the place they call, “Home”.
There are many things wrong
And many things right.
So much confusion.
So little light.
How many times
Must we face a disaster?
The lights keep on fading.
And there is no real "master".
Mean-spirited.
Greedy.
As his claws lifted off the ground,
Soaring through the clouds.
He reached the sky.
Lonely.
Unsatisfied.
Rain storms and thunderstorms,
I never did anything wrong,
but every night I face the angry beast of my belly.
We fight for hours and hours and hours,
Until I finally cave in,
I'm starving.
Momma can't find a job,
What is poverty you ask?
To a person who has had to sleep on urine stained mattresses,
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Good question, what would I change
well I would change alot of things
no more of signs thrown by gangs
and the sound of the world going BANG!
but that's only one thing that bothers me
help and throw money
Illuminated minds
And related kinds
Elated to find gold
In the mind that's my mind
Unrefined, unaligned
With mainstream views
As I daydream of good news
Brighter days, righter ways
I spent a year in a foreign placeWandering about what truths I would learn or face...
It is dark and dreary.
The sun never comes out.
I feel so wet and sticky.
Why won't this mud come out?
I know not what it is like,
to even know how to ride a bike.
I'm stuck in this house,
We spend billions of dollars to protect our country, but what's the point if behind the walls is a land that's crumbling?
Homelessness a tragedy,
Travesty, undeniable reality.
Society full of apathy.
Naturally causes casualties,
Nationally.
Feeding off dump sitesGovernment preaching about human rightsThe minds hunger now difficult to fightThe authority’s pledge I’ve learnt to reciteInsanity, poverty for eternity
Shocking Failure, Blinding success
The only difference, A thin white line
We always make, A great big mess
It’s when autumn
in its final throes
surrenders
and one morning
you draw in
a peculiar breath
thick with frigid air
that you realize
the winter’s made
its presence.
Lines of bodies piled one behind another,
Sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers,
Looking for a few walls to cover their heads,
Hoping a few mouths could be fed.
But there was no room in the inn, said Jim.
Money vs Survival
Another worry versus another worry
Seeking money to survive veruses just survivng
Slaving away versus Living away
Tears of hardship versus Tears of real life.
The little man with the tangled beard
sits
huddled
in an olive green jacket
dust and snow caught in the wrinkles
A stained sheet draped around cold shoulders
edges
shredded to
Does nobody care?
Can nobody hear
The calls of the dying and hungry,
Poor and restless with fear?
How can we be content with our actions,
Yet achieve no satisfaction
shreds of winter hair shroud stippled skin,weathered by one, two, many weekscrouched and soliciting in the steady glowof our capital’s sun. Once full lips shrivel,struggle to form the one simple word
I kill because you are in my way.
I kill because my hunger pangs will not let me sleep.
I kill you to quench my thirst for water.
I'd kill you to fulfill my unchained, but caged desires.
Behind each face there is a story,
Behind each run down person there was once a time of glory.
In a world, who is so quick to judge, these juveniles put down.
They are merely people born in the wrong situations,
If time were stoppable
And hypocrisy improbable
I would make you understand
Let you experience firsthand
How to wallow in self-suffering and
What it’s like to have nothing
Yes, I will be. Yes, I am.
Yes, screw you,
You were not there.
You were in prison.
Remind me, why your Mia self can be snarky,
Questioning me as if I tasted
Like dog shit.
From the moment I walked in,
You judged me.
It was apparent you knew nothin'
I know nothing in the life comes free,
But you told me I couldn't afford
The one thing I wanted to be.
You have to be willing to try, try again
Your mind set should be, "Yes, yes I can!"
Do not let fear strike in your heart,
Worrying and fear will tear you apart.
Don't let the little things get you down,
The right to an education,
Is guaranteed.
To everyone.
This means that we are all,
On even ground in school.
And have equal opportunities to learn
And excel in our studies.
But just where
Living life as a teen is hard
sometime it feels like I'm suck in a brick yard
I try to look through it but that wall is not invisable
To be honest its my parents acting like the wold is transmissible.
America the great is what they sayWhere my children are shot down every dayWhen all they want to do is playAmerica the great what does this mean?
Brown faces, some white that see us .
your responsibilty does not begin at the door
tell her its ok not to be thin and that by exclaiming back whats she's taken in
shes losing her, the within
Trying to hide how my stomach feels
How long has it been since I had a meal?
The Money is dust.
Hunger is rust:
robbing me senseless,
caressing me senseless.
Hunger, that foul fiend!
The little girl on the street
knew how to keep a beat.
The little girl on the street
kept people on the edge of their seat.
The older girl on the street
couldn't make ends meet.
Like the shimmering dust of gunpowderI was wounded by his eyes like gunpowderLifeless, but with the potential to combustLike that paints the parking lotBeneath our feet
His feet were hard and calloused
Probably because he had no shoes
Torn and stained courdaroy pants
Worn for the past 2 weeks
Cracked mug found in the dumpster
Filled with loose change
I like how you tell me,in so many removed terms,
that I'm falling apart -- as if
I don't know it's wrongto savor the scent of my sweat,
or I'm not awarethat my house is the line
EXUSES ARE FOR THE WEAK
FOR THE LAZY AND THE MEEK.
thats what my teacher says to me.
yes sometimes
MY DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK
just doesnt fly.
but tell me why, tell me how,
"Don't have a big head, the world doesn't revolve around you."
There's no I in team, that's all that I knew.
There are people that are starving, homless and broke.
But that's only in movies, it was only a joke.
At dawn she'll sleep forever,Rest in peace her tortured soul,Have you ever? Seen an angel without wings?"If you love something set it free" ,Is what I used to believe, Before I Let go of what I Love,
In a street he waits and staresWondering who will strike todayHe whispers secret, silent prayersHoping they will be at bayThey hate him for his beliefsThat religious men should lead
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,
Through halls painted white, I walk to my class.
With courage and pride, I look through the glass.
Though scared I am of another new school,
I will do my best to not be the fool.
Here and there, the unheard resides
A face so unsual
A face no one can describe
A face, ignored
Abandoned in the cold forest alone
A thunder stops by and turns to the other side
1993
Westside
Sunset Boulevard
SoCal
Los Angeles California
Bring you back to the silver DeLorean, flux capacitor
We got that hover board under the seat.
Some people aren't as lucky as we are.To be able to drive around in fancy cars,and to be able to have a place called home...only few have things they can call their own.
I’m a foreigner.
A white girl in a brown world.
I stick out.
I’m a target.
Oh how I wish that my safety were not an issue!
Because sometimes I feel like Rapunzel,
Locked up in a tower,
i have my own memories brewed with sin,i did it for my family and i would do it again,one day i spoke with god, i knew it was him,"Son im going to take you where few have been."he took my hand and appered before a huge mansion,dont explain yoursel
I am committed -no- destined to make a better life for myself
I work in the day, I don’t have time that is free
No, I don’t have an inherited wealth.
I am overwhelmed and I wont tell you what I need.
We sit on our cotton made, silk lined couches.
We entertain ourselves by watching Hi-Def TV on 62'' flat screen televisions, while eating a hot homemade meal,
Take the time to listen,
Take the time to know,
Take the time to hold on,
To that which is truly good.
I have no room to judge
Living on the street, they never seem to budge
Living off a dollar or a penny
Everyone's afraid to give
Thinking that people gone spend it on henny
But that's how they learned to live
We all must face
At some point in our lives
An insurmountable force
Impossible to push aside.
Something
That challenges our strength
Our character
And our pride.
Everyone has it, no one thought it was contagious
Hordes of people stand with ignorance to the epidemic
Man, woman, child all murdered; it's egregious
But are we not all sick?
For we must have narcolepsy
Lord tell me everything is going to be okay.
That even though there are rules to obey
Tell me that myself, family and friends will remain okay
Tell me that I that I don't have to rely on material.
"You make me feel, You make me feel, You make me feel.."Perfect.And if I'm perfectly honest I can't help it.All my attempts at being disaffectedAre utterly demolished,When faced with your affection.
Shadows eclipse my weary soulBattle wounds can take its tollWhy am I to be this way?To make that choice this very dayThoughts driven by doubt revolveFears dimmed by peace disolve
I am untouchable
Surrounded by the black gates
Unsure of which to open
“Let the people in!”
Cries my heart
Yet I am lost…
Separated and gone
Write my name in the water
i
scrubbed violently at the grime on my skin
filth dirt stain soot
struggled to cleanse the grease out of my hair
dirty oily unwashed
to cease to desist
to stop the crimes
to help the fighting youth
to unveil the bride Truth and stop her point from becoming moot
that
is
our
calling
To which are you referring
The lines that you are blurring
The hands unheld and the tears untouched
Hungry, hurting, hopeless
Harsh and cold
Is the shattered concrete
Click clicking beneath the feet
Of jostled ignorance
Heavily breathing
Pant panting anxiety
Beneath these metal ghosts
Hi, my name is Lauren Lehman, I'm an ambitious poet from the South Florida Metropolitan Area..
I began writing poetry to help cope with traumatic events that I've overcome in my past.
Backbone to navelBrain to dirtChildren 6ft. under on account of us...Scathing, burned, and batteredSealed with the branding of DEATHNo hope.Bones shaking, earth quakingBoom!
If i could erase from this world
everything that reminded me of you,
God would have to take everything back
and start from scratch.
For the mark you left on my life
is so immense, so intricate...
As I walk down the street I see all the faces;
The happy, the sad, the downright mad;
Some might believe they are always this way;
Soon you'll know that's just not true;
The mad man at the bus stop,
Little girls growing up. Limited in their visions.
Little boys growing up. Limited in their prosperity.
Who are we? We the people. We are supposed to be free.
Who are we? We the people. We are meant for simplicity.
Here one day, gone the next.
My dear child, why so soon?
The light of hope in my dismal life
struck down by hunger.
My dear child, why so soon?
Seeing your simple happiness filled my life with joy.
Trembling, Freezing With no clothes on hand No money to bearOut in the streets Chills becoming meNo place to goShivering arms crossedLi[s and teeth chatteringWarm thoughts coveting me
I woke up one morning to a very dark day
I couldn't go home my parents they went away
the streets aren't so friendly
theres terror in my eyes
No place to call home
I'm all alone in the night
The body and the earth shakes
All the while the waves quake
With untangible thoughts of a body
So the sand breaks
Into grains in the mind
Stringed noodles of a hallowed concubine
We prepare long and hard Sweating and in pain We arrive and the the air is dry and stiff I hear no language that I know And acknowledge my detachment from familiarity We arrive to our new home After a bumpy ride In a run-down, old, moldy bus The
They say the world revolves around money.
I think that you don't need money to be happy,
but in order to be happy you have to be set financially.
The world is too cruel to those who have nothing,
I look at my legs and I see all my scars
Somtimes they're as vivid as my nightmares
Sometimes they're as invisible as that little girl was made to feel
I look at my arms and I see exhausted veins
Alone under dark skies
Where ambience and little life cries
To the power they ride
Live they who contest the lie
Falling upon the deafest of mouths
And the hungriest of ears
So many faults.
So many dropped balls,
And missed calls,
And “Holy shit! Thank God you had your seatbelt on.”
Not to mention those late bills that caused
The lights and the A/C to go out
I yell at you day after day, begging you to take this pain away. I ask you why you have allowed such things to happen to me but all I get in reply is an empty silence and my own sigh. I have been good I say, so why do this to me?
Zombies.
Shuffling in a straight line.
Thirsting for the one thing.
Never satisfied.
Zombies.
Draw fake smiles on their faces.
Everyday the same.
They follow the rules, they say their graces.
break out
Of bounds; set the standards around
What others cannot
Trouble inbound; bein followed
Back to the roots, the home,
the starting point
disjointed from the hip
Hartford is a storm.
Hartford is a rainbow.
Hartford is a concrete rose garden
That when the sun washes over the streets
They grow.
Bright flashing gold and green hypnotic,
It’s plain this substance is narcotic.
Desire that we can’t ignore,
The more we have, the more we adore,
Pouding, pouding, pounding away
The remains of a once loved city
Crumbling away under them
They don't even see
Eyes hopeful enough to imagine a light at the end
Ways of fixing what they've destroyed
Everyone is tangible/ Lacerations cut deep within one's pride/ Castigations fly freely from lips of an octogenarian idol/ Sorid, vile words were bladed sharp/ Everyone is tangilbe/ Aspirant to move forward/ Pushing through the cracks of the dark,
Song of Innocence:
A bright light shining,
Shining and radiating proudly
O’er the land;
Proudly illuminating the poor
Hovel, the crumbling
10+11 are the days I should stay home
Your mother called. She asked me what you want for dinner, chicken or spaghetti?
How can I be special at home?
A ticket and a dream was all that she could see,
An orphan, and hope for all that could be.
Not even a hop, skip, and a jump away.
To arrive on a plan was more than they could ask for,
You won't take the time.
So you don't know.
She has a good heart.
But through her exterior that doesn't show.
All you can see is the poverty that her family has been cursed with.
We groan and mutter everytime we start to fall ill.
But some mothers scream as their children get killed.
We get gutted when we can't afford something pricey.
But some can't buy food, so they remain hungry.
(I am unsure of what to name this poem, so if you could suggest any ideas I would appreciate it! I was suggested the name to be "You're a Lifesaver," but I don't know if I can really consider myself one)
As we complain about things being unfair,
there are families in the US without health care.
You may not have gotten what you wanted for your birthday,
there are people in Haiti trying to survive after an earthquake.
I step out of the plane
Baggage on my right hand
A bag of toys on the other.
One foot touches the concrete.
The hard surface onto the soft soles of my feet.
(poems go here) Life’s bumpy roads and harsh realities
Are what brought me to the refuge of poetry.
A world where you have little money,
Where the lady on the news talks about a new murder every night
If today were the last day to live,
would you call your enemies and forgive?
or would you go to the shelter to give?
something simple can express so much
our hands together is a simple touch
Mugging bubblegum
Left step Right step into a bodega
Barely standing at four feet tall
Waiting for the old man to rush me
Hoping for him to give him something free
Old man glances at a new customer
Abnormal, poor, weird words I hear daily
Growing up poor wasn’t a choice; wishing it was a choice
Each day I struggle looking over my should, hearing them laugh,
Avoiding the landlord, rents overdue.
Her lungs seek fervently to find a breath of stuffy air,
Her heart looks in desperation for courage to hope,
Her mind searches hopelessly to find the end.
The darker corner of Memphis, TN
Where prostitutes take their positions among a sea
Of honest workers and school kids waiting early on the MATA
Just to repeat the process at 3 in the after-
His Harmonica he played, sweet melody, music reached out to me like sun rays, penetrating my skin on a summer day, and I observed from a distance, not too far away, an old man with gray hairs, running down the sides of his face, an old coat he wor
Sitting on an invisible desert
Screaming for Help
No one hears
Voice Plastered on a piece of cardboard
No yellow brick road
That others follow home
No home to follow it to
Rain
these hands, subjacent to my heart,
brush tears from eyes,
push water through space,
teach children to swim,
feed hungry lost souls, faith,
make art, heal wounds,
and open doors... for you.
Life is like dominoes,
each one has an effect,
wherever the first one falls
has an influence on the next.
The world we live in is such a disgrace!
Some flourish greatly while others die
Do not let your life be a waste!
If the heroes of old learned how we kept this place
They would rise from the grave and they would spit in our faces
The land and the sea is soaked with blood and their tears
Maintaining our freedom for hundreds of years
You're exasperating, Mr. Brisbane!
You wear a pointy hat
and new shoes
and an overcoat
with socks,
but you forget, sir, that you do not wear a
moneyhat or a
moneyshoe or a
moneycoat or
Stenches from take-out restaurants and people who should shower more often,
Looking up to the sky only when buildings pointed that way,
Crack heads and crazies and crooks eyes follow me as I pass,
Enter the building,
Lavish lies conceal flattering false prophets
Under a guise that is layers deep
A ritualistic routine of self masocation
Of emotional measures physicality intact
Progressing and digressing
Take me back to the days of a Ghanaian sunset.
When hope dwelled above the waters of despair
And I gazed into the eyes of a sinking soul.
Where trust and fear were honest and pure --
Deep moans drift in the room.
Liquid hunger screams from my veins.
Acid leaks from my lips.
Agony drips from my head.
I am wounded, and all I want is more.
more of her to heal my pain,
I look out across the dingy city.
Towers loom over the filthy streets,
the roads, broken, have no destination,
and the street signs, blank, give no direction.
It smells like coal
my mother says
"Reminds me of my childhood,"
she says
Reminds her of family reunions
Ashland, KY
formerly a place of gathering
(It is now a ghost-town
living up to its name)
Look away, Look away,
That I may not see
the hunger, the stricken, the pain;
I would much rather stay
In my world
Having every thing I could
ever want --
But always wanting more.
On hands and knees my wrists move
with the rhythm of my labored breathing,
scrubbing these floors and hoping
that working just hard enough
can wash away the sins of this system
we didn’t ask to be a part of,
Pittsburgh, PA;
Glowing lights.
Downtown;
Broken fights.
This is where I spend my nights.
I'm in for it, Jesus Christ.
You see the colored flags,
the shoes on telephones wires.
The world is mine for the taking
Every day something new
Discovering who I can be
What can I do?
Born into a broken home
Always fighting for the spotlight
Never one for trouble
I had a small, rich and happy family.
There was my dad Harry, my mom Wendy, me and my little sister Mei.
Back then, we were fine. Mom and Dad had no problems during that time.
Is this what life is?
Only the known ones
Only the pure ones
Can make it anywhere
Only the divine ones
Only the heavenly beings
Are carried on feathery wings
To the heights of riches
The homeless starve on the streets,
And the people never stopping, never sharing a glance, never sharing a thought.
With each passing day you ponder a thought
How will you pay, when will you start
They denied to tell you how hard it would be
Writing 600 words to each school applied
Even after you've licked the last stamps
I'm riding in a car with people I just met,
Realizing that my mind is so far away from theirs.
I look around outside the car window seeing the life I live in,
While questioning the thoughts that are going through my head.
Welcome to this world, this cold, cruel place,
Where violence and hurt are quick to replace.
Here are some things to which to pay mind
If, and only if, you wish to survive.
Beating to the core
Towards a betrayed Soul
Being pushed out into a sea
Of blood and grief
And yet no one shows empathy to those Who inhale these deadly blows
Most girls dream of being prom queen
I dream of being asked to prom
Most girls dream of true love
I dream of a simple happiness
Most girls dream of living in a mansion
I dream of living in house without wheels
Standing at an intersection
Holding a cardboard sign
Scrawled on with a sharpie
Found lying around
Cars pass
And pass
And pass
This is humiliating
Still they pass
The hot sun beats down,
History the past
When did they invent the cash?
That would stimulate economies
And create a large gap
In between the lines
You cant read like "Between the Lions"
You cant read the fine print
This morning I woke up and all I saw was black.
I never knew the world could be so cold and lonely.
But now I watch as:
My mom loses her job and her house.
So I sit here,
In my bed,
Wondering if I am next.
Lashes long, Apparel unclean.
Everything is wrong, and the government is mean.
A scary disease, and a sad smile.
Hoping for relief, or a friend to stay a while.
Why is no one answering my cries?
I lash out in hopes that someone will notice,
But all that responds is never-ending silence.
Music used to be my perfect muse…
Now it doesn’t even offer me comfort.
Whats up with all this terrorism, racism, crime, and poverty?
It must be in result of all this sovereignty,
Or maybe because we've made this idea of reliability a novelty.
Do we expect everyone to just win the lottery?
As so many others before me,
I dream of a day where there will be no more debris
Debris of the lost and lonely
Debris of the poor and homely
Debris of the beat and anguished
Debris of the alone and languished
I am that little girl living in that little hole.
Insides oozing out of me, insects creeping into my soul.
Moans and cries nightly and daily, accepting my punishment, vulnerable…..gravely.
A president, an astronaut, that's what I had envisioned
An actor surviving a 28 car collision
A thread of untruth entwined into a white robe
Strobe lights imitating a holy glow
Children,
Quiet nights, chubby toes, imaginary friends in class.
Water balloons, ice cream trucks, green blades of grass.
Children,
Mistakes made, processing death, moving away with dad.
Broken perfection, Hell slips into Heaven
Sin crashes, and its fire causes damage
Touching every man and all his possessions
Burning flesh
Searing hearts
Breaking wills
Zero
Zero dollars because the last bit went to the food that now digest slowly in our stomachs.
As it was sliding down my hungry throat, I thought, "This is it, this is the end."
It rains.
And it rains.
On my hands and knees I pray
For this world to see a new, brighter day.
Not with the eyes of humans we should see,
But with the eyes of how it was meant to be.
(poems go here) They did the work we didn’t want to do
We could not be in the same room
It was illegal for them to have a say
If they even tried it was almost like they were thrown away
This went on for 400 years
Shuffled by,
Tossed and tied up without a bat of an eye
Thrusted into a life that was unseen
Depicted less of our mean
Voice unheard, some sort of strangled silence
Shuffled by,
Tossed and tied up without a bat of an eye
Thrusted into a life that was unseen
Depicted less of our mean
Voice unheard, some sort of strangled silence
I see what your scared of,
that thing inside that you want, the burning fire,
te desire for change,
you thought you could do it alone but your just one,
thats what the doubters say,
The riders are teachers,
The marchers are leaders,
The man they all look too,
Is a Baptist preacher.
She sat in a chair,
Not willing to share,
To stand for her rights,
Without being compared.
Some say ignorance is bliss, but I dare to disagree;
I say ignorance is what the eyes are afraid to see.
On the outside you may think these people are friends through whatever;
I've seen my people enslaved by these monsters
I haven't seen them escape very far
Still trapped by their masters, or the ones that claim they are
And they've been hypnotized by those damn cars
Why won’t it change color?
I try so hard
To scrub off the darkness
That will never go away
It brings so much trouble and shame
They stare at “it”
Define me through “it”
But I am more than that
Silence sweeps over the cotton fields of present day Georgia
As gentle winds tickle the cypress and the pine.
Streams ebb contently in their beds.
Who would have thought in such a beautiful place,
I had a dream, he had a gun.
I asked if I could sit, they asked if I could run.
Without justice there is no peace, they say “I have justice so is there peace?”
In today's world, we hear about the civil rights movements in history class.
We think, "that was so long ago, does it even matter now?"
Most teens only think about our country now, not it's past.
This is a Rise^
For All of Those who have Died
in order to keep the Living Hope Alive
This a Rise^
For All of those who wear a disguise
There's no need to hide
Oreos. Zebras.
There are jokes about both
That are funny to even the most welcoming of people.
When two races mix,
Two races so different as black and white, literally,
Judgment is passed,
She suffers unimaginable violence and neglect from him
Not because she likes mistreatment
But because she’s financially unstable
I am no Englishman
But I conduct constitutional statements beyond imagination and time
I am no senator
But within my own moral enforce laws only accessible to wildest dreams
I passed out millions
You're there. Sitting. Breathing. Breathing in all of the fibers of the world. Your world. But where am I?
I am but an enigma that you dreamt up.
Their eyes no longer blank
As they had risen from concrete crumbles.
In the burning heat of day
And in the rituals of the night.
Rushing through the strings of dirty tents
Trying to find the ceaseless end
Of shrimps and steaks and sizzling soups
And turpentine rolls and cabbage groups
Comes a man of greedy, vicious frosting
The essence of virtue he is lacking.
An effervescent mind when he wants it to be
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
Fortune tellers have never appealed to me
Last resort to find your bicycle
It's more that materialistic drama
I can not seem to find a piece (peace)
One day, words will willfully transform into action
A set of syllables will slip from tongue to reaction
One day, speech and rhetoric will become living, moving, breathing
Let me tell you a little bit about the people you pass by every day- in school, in the drugstore, in the mall, on the street, in your one home
