We will litter this page with poetry - kinship poems, unapologetic poems, poems for our posterity. I love when we are in the poem zone. Write a poem that you want to share with the rest of the world.
The following is my first published poem (Tatum, 2005). It is now a part of me:
Does the world care if I exist?
Or, am I just America’s problem
Don’t they know I am dying like no other?
Naw, they just fear me, they can’t hear me
Hell, they’ll just lock me up in juvey and throw away the key
Man, I can’t stand for that
I got to fight back
I’m dying anyway
Might as well take some with me – black, brown, white, don’t matter
I’m tired of living in poverty
I get hungry too
You expect me to just watch you eat
While you mistreat me in the streets and in schools
Hell, you can’t even teach me how to read – Mr. and Mrs. Teacher
Then you flunk me, and blame it on me
Some of it’s my fault
Probably some of my momma’s fault as well
But you’re at fault, too
So, I’ll sling a little to get paid
Get a little respect while I’m at it, maybe get laid
Death don’t matter, the way I’m living I feel dead anyway
Tired of being on my KNEES begging
Trying to do the right thing and never getting ahead
My homeboy graduated from high school, now’s he’s dead
It’s about living a little now, the only time I know I got for sho’
Man, you don’t hear me
I can beat drums at your doorstep all night
You’ll just say get away with all that hip-hop
It is really a cry, a scream for your attention
But my manhood won’t let me come right out and ask for help
With your track record, I don’t trust that you’ll help me anyway.
Why should I put myself out like that?
I don’t want your pity, or your crying
Teach me how to man-up, and be a man
Help me to stop dying
If you don’t, this nation will continue to spill over with the black male’s blood
You’ll have to build more jails
There you go – I told you the deal
I spilled my guts
It is now your time to act
If you don’t act
I now believe that, America does not care if I exist, is a fact.
No more peace until we all get a piece (American pie)
Damn, my time expired. I’m gone.
Track Thoughts
ReplyDeleteI can hear your thoughts
they illuminate my mind
STAY!
The scent you wear, I have never smelled
anyone wear it so well
STAY!
See we can account for
lost time if only you could
STAY!
The poet in me wants to take your mind there to a higher state
while leaving your body Still
Still in shock
Still wrapped around my words
Still wrapped up in
ME
While the time passes
The mistakes are being made
Love slipped from your lips
Dripped down your chin &
Landed in my lap
STAY!
I can feel your thoughts
They speak to me in volumes
Fresh thoughts leave
my body trembling
Thinking leaves my mind
RACING
But time is being wasted
STAY!
With me.
The decison is yours
STAY!
Its up to you and only you
STAY!
Be her and let me be him
lets be US
and STAY!
Im writing this to express
my undying want for
your touch
your love
your everything
SO STAY!!!!
Too Long
ReplyDeleteFor too long have my words gone unseen
Words that seem to burn through the human soul with the intent of burning
Too long have the actions of the wise and the weak gone unheard
When will we speak?
Be seen not heard, is what we were taught
But time is still moving and we are losing
In a time when a man or let alone a boy has to adress our females as "bitches and hoes"
Its been too long
The lines have not been drawn
But this is not a game, no second chances, no more lifes, no please wait, while you respawn
But still voices go unseen
Troubles seem to out last even the individuals at there best, following from the past
When will we as a people see that if we want to make it and out last the rest
Young brother stop staring at her "ass"
My beautiful queen respect yourself, you are more than that price claims
You are a queen
So many dreams
to succed
to need
to be
everything
someone
anything
But with out hope, our dreams defer into nothingness
Leaving them:
Empty
Void
Useless
In a place that holds our young people hostage by the status quo
Not becasue they want to but becaause you made slang the status quo
"Yea man you really had us going"
But you shoulve helped us grow.
Into a people that should no
ITS BEEN TOO LONG
Since a man can wrap his finger around the trigger and pull it back
His mind should be able to wrap itself around the jail time, and the crime
without ever looking back, at his life, his family none of that
A woman will can lay down easy, as to please him real fast
So then she should be able to drop to her knees and pray
"Lord help me please! I am in need of the blood of the lamb, and your
gracious mercy, it is thee i seek!"
I am seeking all the states of being to bring back our people to our prime
A time that "nigga" was and will be unfamilar
"hoe" will be deceased
"bitch" will no longer linger on the tips of our tounges
And our forms of respect, will INCREASE
ITS BEEN TOO LONG
Eqiup your mind with whats happing in our streets;
And see that what i am telling you is
TRUE
So now i give this life poem unto you
because
ITS BEEN SO LONG?
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ReplyDeleteYOU
ReplyDeleteYou are beautiful
You are amazing
You are loving
You are breath taking
You are more than words can explain
You are the music in my heart
You are true
You are my inspiration
You make me crazy
You make me love you
You make me sane, in the time of insanity
You take away the pain
You take away the hurt that comes with my being
You make me see, who i really am.
You make me ME
Impulse
ReplyDeleteThe look
the look that means, your everything to me
She gives me this look.
And it drives me insane
IMPULSE
Like:
mind games
Like:
constant rhyhming lines
Like:
running hundreds of miles
IMPULSE
She is her self in all ways
Even my words cannot express
She has truth in her eyes
Truth in her smile
It drives me wild
IMPULSE
She is the reason my tempature is rising
Why my mind in running
Why my words are breaking up into
Useless Sylabelles.
IMPULSE
Useless questions to hypotheitcal suggestions
Never the less leaving my state of being
torn between
Pleasure & Pain.
IMPULSE
From this what is to be gained?
My IMPULSE is for her.
A Threatened House
ReplyDeleteMrs. Media and Mr. Politics run this town,
Which gave birth to Corruption, Homophobia, and Immigration,
That silenced the true word of our nation.
Oops! Sorry, can’t call it our nation anymore,
Since Mrs. Media demoted us to the bottom of the barrel.
So far down our voice remained unheard.
You know what, I am glad we were demoted,
nothing but a small setback for the greatest comeback.
Mr. Politics may be coming home with the bacon,
But he bought it from my store.
And prices have been really low the past years…
Until Mistress Terrorism came into the picture.
In turn, it gave some big ups to my revenue.
She more of the hero than you’ll ever be Mr. Politics.
But yet again, Mr. Politics, you sneaky little bastard,
Can stare your wife in the face and say;
“We may have had our struggles, but we can make it through”
Yet 9 years later to this day… I still see the blood trickling down sewer drains,
The screams of a lost little girl, wanting to see her mother again,
The tears a kid will shed when the cowardly words of trolls glow across the computer screen.
Um… Mr. Politics, I’d love to disturb you but,
You seemed to only rid the country of the “foreign” terrorists,
Not the ones that walk along my street,
Live in YOUR house,
Yet loiter on my stairs.
I’ll apologize in advance Mr. Politics,
But in comparison…your nothing but a shitty pair of scissors
Sharp on point,
But dull along the blade.
And it has seemed to run in the family.
The cults your children have started…
Are just like yours,
So similar it’s like they just follow in your footsteps.
Taking a thousand steps at a time,
Without knowing how to walk.
And I truly apologize to your wife,
She’s been eating so much of your bacon,
That she’s gotten ugly and fat.
I understand why you cheated on her.
I mean the more you feed her…
The more she talks,
It’s like the fat is forcing the words out of her.
Each and every breath she takes,
A new secret comes out.
Pretty soon, the cleaves will come out,
and she becomes nothing but a pile of fat on the floor.
In that scenario we have our ticket back to the top,
We can rise through the ghost of her,
To stand where we stood almost 30 years ago,
Right next to Mr. Politics,
And his bloody hands.
Life’s Path
ReplyDeleteI feel like I’m walking around with my head in a sling
Out of control
Blood full of impurities and insecurities
Dishonesty stringing through my veins
Spills in my life leaving stains
Forever feeling momentary pains
Crippled we nigaas said to be so wheres our cains
Life paused like breaks in the train track
Calling the conductor fix it
Trick it out
Life will leave you in the dust
That’s why I keep my hot rod mindset
Life is beautiful on the outset
But the pot wholes that we carve in it can leave us in a crash and lifeless
Despite this
I’m steadily in this lethal crisis
Swimming from the sharks like a pisces
Award winner swimmer, man for get that ima melt the gold and use the money to feed my family dinner
Gold around my neck of my sons respect
Security or neglect
Purity well today that’s far fetched
And someone like me is hard to catch
Cause I’m running circles around you I guess you can call me a pest
Give me the test I’ll bet you I’ll pass with straight F’s
Future…
Forward…
Forever moving…
Man, ain’t that thought soothing
Black Power: Violent Beginnings
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
Avery and Victoria walked wide hallway with teal lockers. The tiles on the floor were also teal and the walls were white. When they got to the end of the hallway, they walked down a series of white steps. Soon, the two got to the basement. They came to a metal door. Avery grabbed the doorknob, which was also metal and turned it. The door opened. “Someone’s down there,” Victoria whispered. Avery nodded in agreement. Then, he slowly tiptoed down the metal staircase, his slow breathing the only sound. When he got to the end, Avery saw a light. Afraid who was ever down there would see him, Avery leaned against the wall next to the staircase. He looked up at Victoria and motioned for her to come down. She came as quietly as Avery and leaned behind him. Avery peered behind the wall and looked into the rooms. There was only one light and that was shining on the big vat with a top on it in the middle of the room. Next to the vat there was a figure doing something. Without thinking, Avery jumped out and said: “Hey!” The figure stopped what he was doing. The figure walked into the light and Avery gasped. It was the janitor! The janitor glared. “Why are you guys in here?” He demanded. I faint British accent lingered in his voice. “Uh… Mrs. Markus sent us down here,” Avery replied. The janitor gave him a “Your lying sucks” look and walked out. Avery sighed and walked up to the vat. He looked at Victoria. “C’mon,” he said. Victoria shook her head. “I’m not ready for this, Avery she said. Before Avery said anything else, Victoria rushed out of the room. Avery sighed and looked at the vat. His eyes screamed anger, but whispered wonder. Avery opened the lid and looked into it. In the vat, there was a green, steaming, bubbling liquid. Avery mouthed: “Whoa.” Just then, Avery was about to go upstairs, to hands clutched his shirt and shoved him into the vat.
Victoria ran into the classroom and climbed out the window. Minutes later, a tall woman walked in and grabbed some papers on her desk in front of the classroom. She analyzed the room and frowned because the room was a mess. She went over to the window and her eyes widened at the shattered glass. Then she walked out the room and did not return that night.
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ReplyDeleteWalking to Kill
ReplyDeleteMy black heart beats slow…
Like young, swollen ankles
Walking to death’s door
With no desire to turn the knob and
Enter the broken grey sky of a mind
With cries of thunder,
Tears of lightning,
Drowning the inner peace
Of an unconscious soul,
Unable to swim
in the deep ills of the ghetto.
Trynna think about my future
ReplyDeleteAll I need is a wish
Den I can become a rapper
Instead off bein a weight mover
My mom sayin you gon grow up to be like your dad
Or in other words she thinks im gonna be a loser
My moms clueless
Everything that ive worked for was it really worth it
The sport opportunities I don’t even wanna use it
Trynna keep my girls love because I don’t want to lose it
And my moms trust she said ive already lost it
Dis boy took my bike
She said once we find him she gonna run him ova and its gonna cost em
Im thinking about my friends
And if there really my friends
And if they are they would be there for me till da end
People always askin me for dollas
And im so generous to lend
I swear my life is in jeopardy
I don’t even have money to spend
Taken transportation
Sittin on dat bench while its hot as hell
And im just patiently waitin for a miracle
Brown not Black
ReplyDeleteOur ancestor’s skin was black
Their undying will to return to their home helped inspire strong will
But we are brown
We have been influenced by “The Man”
We may think that we are black but that is a lie
Our once proud race has been forever stained by “the white man”
Though we try to escape the fate we are being held back
These invisible strings control our every action
And once they are done sealing our fate they dump us behind bars
The few that do well go unnoticed
For the man controls the media and they don’t want any of us to have a happy story
A happy story leads to inspiration and inspiration leads to rebellion
And even they know that if we were to come together we would win that war
But the problem is that we have no exposure of our success
But I will rise up with my writing and expose the truth
My truth will ring around this world shaking my brothers from their slumber
Scaring the man for they know that I am what they fear
A Black Boy that walks with his eyes Open
Confused
ReplyDeleteMe and my ego
Are bright can you see bro
I’m confident and cocky
In a lyrical fight and I think I’m Rocky
I use my ego to overcome problems
My writings express my feelings
The real things
That most people don’t experience
If I tell them they will never believe
Didn’t God say if you give you shall receive
I give everything
But receive little things
So I ask my self should I continue to give?
I just believe that what I need
I will still receive
But until then I will Proceed
Painful Irony: Deux
ReplyDeleteI feel trapped
Between these walls
To some things I may be blind but when it comes to pain I see it all
These walls add pressure because there's no way out
But I kept a straight face and I refused to pout
Even though I felt doubt
And wasn't heard out
I see the redness through my eyes as I look into the eyes of hell
How deep I fell
I look straight into the devil because my life isn't well
I sit in this chair and I'm tied up
Maybe if I was held down I wouldn't be fed up
These walls come in closer
Expected to do so much
I know I'm going to snap
My composures going to bust
As these walls close in more I shut eyes tighter until they bleed
Then I think of my birth I'm sorry for being a sick seed
I fell through the floor toward the ocean that waits for me
I fall faster
Faster
I crashed into the ocean, I really hope I hadn't hurt it
But at the same time it may feel my pain
I feel the ocean wrap its waves around me
I was looking for a sanctuary
But its sanctuary has found me
This ocean's loving but cold arms are welcoming
But I want no part in it
I want to sink lower
Lower
I want to drown
I want to drown on this water and on my blood
It's so dark at the bottom
I woke up from my nightmare
I felt my eyes and rubbed them
I look out my window up at the moon, urging myself not to howl like the wild animal I have become
The moon will illuminate my room
And soon
I'm consumed by my doom
My America
ReplyDeleteBarak Hussein Obama!
We the people of the United States!!!
In God We trust!
God Bless AmeriKa and no where else!
Our kid’s grow up in poverty.
I am on a mission and ain’t nobody stopping me!
We let the politicians run our world!
They are doing an excellent job!
The oil just spilled!
We are in a recession!
Around 80 years ago we had a Great Depression!
The hell with the job market, we get unemployment checks!!!
All these fatherless babies in the world, thanks Trey Songz for inventing sex!!!
We live life day to day, who cares about the future we aint gone be here anyway!!!
I think too much to be my age, now I am an outcast that everybody loves too hate!
SOME say it’s a nigger president what more do we want!
Crying and bitching about the mysteries that haunt us from beaten ancestors, who died for a cause!!!
Jesus walks they say!
So maybe we should pray, or maybe we should just laugh and continue to let politicians run this God forsaken place!
You make up your mind but I am going to cause a change today!!!
My Story (a kinship)
ReplyDeletewaiting for preston
My story?
Words cannot express my story
A story mere words cannot capture, words fear my truth
A truth that has no end because my story has not been finished
Chapter after chapter, page after page, line after line, word after word
So many people claim they nowhere the story is going to end for me!
But how can one no?
When we live in a life that has no answers
To our mental questions
To our hypothetical suggestions
To our fearful thoughts
My story?
You’re not ready to hear about ME
The one person who can never hurt me other than HE
He is the all-powerful king
So
Don’t tell me that you know how I feel!
You know absolutely nothing!
Don’t tell me you feel my pain!
You cannot imagine the heart aching pain
I am not letting you in on my story
Your pity is not needed
Your tears only make you seem weak
I have come to terms with my story
And I know
It’s not over
So my pain, hurt, and despair will someday disappear
Without you, or your emotions
I wear my mask to cover me from your fake love
You are nothing to me, but another chapter added to my story
My word, my thoughts, my story, my life, my lies, my time
Will come and I will be able to say aloud
THIS IS MY STORY!!
Wow reading over all of this brings back so many great memories!!
ReplyDelete