africanamerican
Learn more about other poetry terms
Black excellence a topic commonly talked about in the 21st century
very outspoken but what does it mean literally
because it's more than a hashtag we see on Instagram
Let me tell about society
We may not have slavery anymore, but our minds are still in chains
If I had to Estimate Approximately 154 years ago slavery ended
Let me tell about society
We may not have slavery anymore, but our minds are still in chains
If I had to Estimate Approximately 154 years ago slavery ended
She has come to the realization that she has failed her DNA,
but who is she to blame for subconsciously signing the treaty
claiming one side of her victor over the other?
Was it the books,
It seems that Jehovah and Lucifer have compromised your passage
To no longer suffer in this life with the facade of being “okay”
Jubilation has come your way
I am the seed birthed from two trees
That separated when I was planted
And made roots that somehow grew without water
Basked in the sun to give me at least a century worth living
I am a beautiful black girl
I was born with curly black hair
I have beautiful melanin skin
Beautiful full lips
No filters
No make up
I am all natural
She wore her heart on her shoulder. Playing her part as a mother. Betrothed to herself in a world unsettled. Married to a ghost. Creating magic from each step she took. She worked to her peak of new life. And loved a lamb in her womb.
Our darkened skin this phase which is the most prime phase will never end
love your skin God created you in, with all that melanin we will never become
evanescent
Momma, Grandma, Aunties and Great Aunties
And all the others that came before you and me
Thank you for shaping me
I express my identity through poetry.
Who I am and who I hope to one day be
Bleeds through the tip of my pen
In a rush of eloquence,
My stream of consciousness.
black girlYour skin is of goldIt shines ever so brightly in the sunThe sun kisses your skin ever so softlyCreated from brown sugar, cocoa, and honeyOh so sweet you areBlack girl
I am 16 years old
I’m left handed
I hate my hyphenated last name
And I absolutely hate bananas
I still don’t know how to play video games either
Each Night,
I rub, I scrape
and I fight.
Each night I try
to wash the pigment
I cry
as my skin begins to redden
I can't take it off.
All of a sudden
I stop.
Story of a Little Black Girl
I was three.
Socks up to knees.
Posed in front of trees.
Mom saying cheese.
School wasn't ready for me.
Story of a Little Black Girl
I was three.
Socks up to knees.
Posed in front of trees.
Mom saying cheese.
School wasn't ready for me.
Y'all can't keep killing us and thinking y'all are going to keep getting away with it we sick and tired of coming up with hashtags for our lost long black brothers and sisters that we ain't never met before but since you died we feel f
See if y'all keep playing imma turn this thing into columbine oh nah it's not funny when I make white jokes but when y'all make black ones it's a comedy show.
Bell Glass
I try to cross the thresholdsI try to shovel poetry in glass bottles eaten by the seaSome BellJar note washed ashore,some ancient hand had written
When i think of home, i think of a place...
Where them cops circle blocks like hula hoops
Got more brothers in them cells, than in cubicals
System sepreating colors like we do a rubix cube
My dark skin isn't a sin.
Your perception of my obscure color is what you have within, and when I look at my reflection, I'm in love with my complexion.
I was born poor
1990 was the year
I was born black and gay
But I'm here
I was slow at developing
Yet fast in the intellectual field
Learning the matters of character
B for Beautiful voices and Brave souls such as Whitney Houston and Rosa Parks
L for Legendary creators such as Quincy Jones and Barry Gordy
It's hard being the minority of a minority. Hard to get a job when everyone comes before me. I work hard to get what I want because it doesn't come easy. Nobody's jumping through hoops trying to please me.
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
Your sterotypes are almost correct,
Though not quite precise
Here
Let me tell you about Fried Chicken,
Because it takes more to get it right.
You need salt and pepper
Seasoning salt…
Black skin against white cotton fresh
Beauty ripped from the land of purity
Stolen virtue, unsure of direction
Crowns ripped from bloody palms
America “ Land of the Free”
But what does that mean to me.
Orphans, and poverty
Opposition to authority
Gangs and disrespect to minorities
So really how free are we?
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
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.
I brought you into this world I can take you out.
These are familiar words that every black child hears when they act up
The Father, our Father
clenches his jaw and whispers these words into our ears
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
I take my coffee black, but was that ever a bad thing?
Bringing back to Martin Luther King preaching about letting freedom ring. The joyful choir sings let the 20th century voices be head
Together, we can break every chain holding us back.
This black on black crime will one day end.
Stuff You can’t say to your Teacher
Dear every white teacher that I have ever had,
Yes,
calling on me
while my hand is down
to answer your questions
about the black community while
I am
He says "go" and I go
He says "do this" and I do it
He says "gather" and I gather
He says "sow" and I sow
Hey Zimmerman, are you happy with your life right now? Do you think you go off free? Even if the courts say you are free, you will never be.
I am black. I am a girl. People tell me all the time what i can and cannot do. They label me as ignorant, rude, ghetto and ratchet because of my color. I am weak, whiny and sensitive because of my gender. Who are you?
This skin is not my own; it's not a place I call home.
Not somewhere I can be me, not a place where I can be free.
Acid rain pierces my heart and tears my life apart.
It's been going on for too long.
They say Rachel has the potential.
POTENTIAL POTENTIAL POTENTIAL
Is all I hear.
Rachel is talkative.
Rachel constantly voices her opinions.
I wake up every morning
never taking breaks.
I gotta play it smart.
I refuse to catch a case.
I walk these streets daily,
and as I look around,
I see a world of lost souls,
Bold, black and beautiful creatures being displayed as items in a grocery store,
Bar-coded and lined up, their manufacturer must be confused, because they are worth
so much more than their face value.
I’m here to justify
All the boys and men
Who cunningly lied through
Their teeth saying
“I love you”
Maybe they thought it was true
Maybe they felt it in their heart
Tell me you know what it means to be Black....
Tell me the true definition,
not the one created by the masses for the purpose of destruction
Take me as I am or leave me as I go.
I am who I am,
Not who you want me to be.
The person that you see was not chosen by me.
The God that lies above exclusively chose the features and color of my body.
Black, Black, What is black?
I am African-American now thats a fact
Being a person of color does not differ me from others
My ethnicity is of many shades, like leaves changing colors in the fall phase
I was born 1996, an African American,
Bore the blood of my ancestors, in my veins inheriting,
The trait of beautiful mahogany brown skin,
And the blessing to flaunt the skin that I am in,
It all started with the devil,
Whispering vows of hatred in the fare skinned man with blue eyes,
Who at the exact same time contemplated foreign shores,
DECiSIONS
I'm very upset right now...
But I'm not gonna let it show through
I feel like I could just cry saying boohoo
I'm stronger than that
The woman I am, can stand,
I am not a slave to my looks therefore I am not a slave to my hair. Next time you say,
Girl!
You will never get a man with that hair.
They said
The pains and woes of past plague,
Would Shape,
Would Define,
Would Make,
Us.
Before Frederick Douglass crossed the roads to freedom,
And showed his light shine bright
They don't really see me
The see the blue black skin that covers my soul
The milk chocolate brown is what they see
Not the brain, the personality that makes me whole
From the internal core of my earth I release a world of bright hope
From my hands, flowing streams of smooth syllables nourish the barren lands of men's souls
This is why I speak... I write... I live
To express the entire entity of who I am I write.
I write for the fact that living in this world of a billion people
I stand alone with a voice stifled and unheard.
Since the beginning you were there for me,
Some one must have said a prayer for me,
Cause no matter what you always cared for me,
I am Congo
Looked upon with disgrace
They tried to erase my race
We were betrayed and put on slave ships
Slavery was money, so there were no friendships
I am Kenya
We press it, cut it, blow it out, and pin it up
We change our texture because it’s not desirable
We dye it as the trends change
And we die a little more ourselves each time
Dear Fellow "Men":
You stand so tall
Because your penis and testicles
Make you better, never wondering whether
You are a man
My name is Beautiful. Black. Woman.
Even though my "friends" call me white.
They fail to acknowledge the fact that my mother's skin is a richly dark as the soil from which their ancestors picked cotton.
And such was the day,
that America died,
when those who had served, fell, and protected
were shunned by those who they had defended..
Uh. Uh. Agency. History. Word. Here we go:
United States, United States
Tryin' to show the world its pretty face
But 'merica's history ain't always a pretty view
Open Zinn and Russell and let's review
Brothers and sisters, do you believe you are living the right way?
I don’t think so from the looks of the television, what I see on the internet and especially what I see on the streets,
I’m not judging because that my intention
If only looks could kill
Then your presence would be inevitable
The time it takes for you to wake and bake
Can only lead to the end of your fate
What do I want?
My days are limitless
What do I do now?
My days are limited
I desire my wants
And want my needs
Yet when they approach me
I am afraid, indeed
Forgetting is the fire that burns down the building
It is the one drink that flips the car
Forgetting is the trigger on a double barreled shot gun
A tec9
A rifle
And a pump action shot gun
I find peaceful solitude in stereotypical places white people deem fit for me because civilized Pavements in this world mark danger for any Negro that reaches into their pockets for a pack of a gum, candy, cell phone or whatever.
They done really did it now
They pushed us in a pit so deep that climbing out would only lead to chaos.
Got us believing that the trash holes called “Ghettos” are to be flaunted
and,
Once upon a time there was a man with a dream of peace, a dream of unity, a dream of equality, a strong dream.
The valleys and hills, tumbled and tall,
With ants that scurry up the wall.
The red ants march, bold and pride,
While the black ones live in lies.
Castles built under the ground
“Let freedom ring!” Cried Jim Crow
Movements and martyrs,
The power in the moment
of the voice, long ago lost -stolen- Found again!
X marks the spot
Support. Strength. Faith.
The belief in a better future.
Keys to action.
Keys to reaction.
A dream. A leader. A desire.
Keys to revolution.
Keys to change.
Love is love,
It’s black and white.
People are people,
And these people don’t fight.
But there’s a long road ahead.
(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
Shush, don’t say a word, just let it happen
The boot doesn’t hurt that much, and it’s cleaner then people make it sound.
It’s easier just to let things happen.
Right?
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
This word burns as it rolls off my tongue ,i can feel my ancestors being whipped as the 'r' forms on my lips i can hear the cries as soon as the 'a' drops out my mouth ,this word hold so much power it hold the tears of my genealogy it's been the
America would not be America,
Culture would not be Culture,
And half of us would not Be here,
Without Our Civil Rights.
Do not disregard me,
for I am still the same brother with which you stand in arms with.
Forming chains to stand against the infringement of rights and ineqaulity, alike.
Every day and every night, we rally for the same end.
I was judged before I even came out my mother's womb
I was counted out and scorned despite my inner beauty
All thanks to Jim Crow
Thanks for your ridiculous laws based upon my ethnicity
What does it mean to be free,
To live without restraint.
These are the questions asked by the people,
The people who where once confined.
Ohh how long it took,
Until they were accepted,
How is it possible to never have to think at all?
Easy, use Google.
How then will we prosper?
Easy, follow the ones who created Google.
Well what about the ozone and global warming?
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,
To control your slaves, make them hate each other,
And guaranteed, they will continue to for the next hundreds of years or even thousands.
Has slavery really been abolished?
Through mushy puddles she wears a tranquil stare,
Brows furrowed in ambition of getting there,
Little steps, one by one, growing distant from the restrictions of mother’s arms,
A synopsis of intermissions because of a lovely existence
We threaded back to our lineage's tool box
Containing proof of resolutions
As well as a link to a lock
Our evolution must contain repetition
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
As I walk down the street
I see children playing
innocence.
They don't care about you're
race, gender, or difference
acceptance.
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,
During a horrific war
That divided our country in two
Abraham Lincoln freed all African Americans
From their chains of bondage
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,
Greater peril awaits thee if a choose to fight for us
For I am not liked – my natural devil formed in birth.
So they say.