Day Two: 4th Period: Poems
Today you will be sharing the poems you have brought to class. Comment to this "Day Two" post to share your poem with the class. Please remember to include the title and author of the poem as well as your name at the bottom of the post.
This is not a poem but a selection fro the Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu, a Chinese spiritual text. ("Tao" means "the way"). I find it to be meaningful to me when I am stressed about which path to take in life...
ReplyDeleteShang shan jo shui
Best to be like water,
Which benefits the ten thousand things
And does not contend.
It pools where humans disdain to dwell,
Close to the Tao.
Live in a good place.
Keep your mind deep.
Treat others well.
Stand by your word.
Make fair rules.
Do the right thing.
Work when it's time.
Only do not contend,
And you will not go wrong.
Phenomenal Women by: Maya Angelou
ReplyDeletePretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
-Shameeka Bates
American Rapstar
ReplyDeleteAn A&R once told me “you can determine the worth of a song within 15 seconds of it playing”
With complete n utter lack of the fact that it takes takes all 3 minutes and 40seconds of a song
to comprehend what I’m sayin’
It ain’t a single if it don’t fly
It ain’t a hit if it don’t ride
Now he couldn’t tell me the components of a smash but the ringtones were their all time high
And a rappers only as big as his chain, the flashier the better
They say money make the World go round
You never lost til you lose your crown
And they don’t love you till you’re on the ground
Or when you’re maxing out your bank account
Yeah, you do it all just to live the life
Even if it means you don’t live it right
And even if it means you don’t survive the night
But if even if you do you won’t survive the hype
Of an American rapstar
- Chris Wills
Superwoman
ReplyDeleteSometimes you make me feel like I'm on top of the world
You make me feel like I am free. But there are times that you'd make me feel so low as if my enemy. Sometimes you make me feel like I'm the best of the best. You make me feel like I can fly but there are times that you'd make me feel so low, so low that I would cry.
Sometimes you make me feel like I'm some kind of queen like there's no way I can be beat. But there are times that you'd make me feel so like as if I've finally reached defeated. Sometimes you make me feel like a super hero as powerful as can be. But like a superhero I have a wealness and you're the kryptonite to me
destinee hunt
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhat I Love About You
ReplyDeleteI love the way you look at me,
Your eyes so bright and blue.
I love the way you kiss me,
Your lips so soft and smooth.
I love the way you make me so happy,
And the ways you show you care.
I love the way you say, "I Love You,"
And the way you're always there.
I love the way you touch me,
Always sending chills down my spine.
I love that you are with me,
And glad that you are mine.
- Crystal Jansen -
-Shantasia McCain
Hope” is the thing with feathers -
ReplyDeleteThat perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Roland Anderson
To Win A Game
ReplyDeleteHow do you win a football game? Not by skill alone or clever plays,
in modern days the game has changed and subterfuge and actors
ways will pave the path to glory. Fitness pays a fair reward to keep
a fleetness in the feet, a clearness in the head, and special food
and clever drinks recharge the cells when batteries are low or dead.
But referees are certain keys to all the famous victories.
Linguistic tricks of lunatics in soccer strip are even matched by
hieroglyphs from coaches dressed in two piece suits, with
hearts on sleeves, grieving for the chances missed, pleading
with the referee for plays he did or didn’t see, for ploys that failed
to turn his head, for verdicts made and judgements dread.
And referees are equal keys to infamy or certain fame.
Then there’s the crowd, a seething throng of attitude and energy,
baying for their chosen team, living in a plastic dream of cinematic
death or glory; dressed in kind and cheering on, drinking, singing,
chanting long and loud the songs expressing hopes and fears of masses
pressed in servitude, praying for a famous win, praying to the soccer rood.
But referees are willing keys to all the prayers and eulogies.
How do you win? Why do you care? Theatrics grimace everywhere,
a game so crafted for the stage with pathos, bathos, great despair,
actors playing parts and reading scripts with human traits, protagonists,
antagonists, depicting gallant characters with artful flair,
it’s all encompassed there, entwined in referee maturity, so grin
and bear it friend, you see, it looks so good on home TV.
Javelle Martin
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs I Grew Older
ReplyDeleteIt was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun--
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky--
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!
Taymon
I wrote your name in the sky,
ReplyDeletebut the wind blew it away.
I wrote your name in the sand,
but the waves washed it away.
I wrote your name in my heart,
and forever it will stay
Tatyana Woodson
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePoem by Jacob M. Parnell ..
ReplyDeleteWhat love really is.
I will try to describe.
It like a pop quiz.
When youve already given your teacher a bribe.
Love is constant appeal.
To the same person each night.
It seems so unreal.
Until your first fight.
Love comes, and love goes.
Sometimes happy, or sad.
But everyone knows.
Love turns into a fad.
Love becomes what you would never imagine.
It takes control.
Like a forcefull adrenaline.
And eventually takes its toll.
Love is an illusion.
That you realize becomes fake.
Eventually a delusion.
That becomes a big mistake.
- Monica Tolson;
A love is “to give”
ReplyDeleteA love is “to feel”
A love is “to hug”
A love is “to kiss”
A love is “to trust”
A love is “to pray”
A love is “to hold”
A love is out of control
A love is a “blessing”
From the God
A love is a “tear”
Comes out from heart
A love is to be honest
A love is to say
A love is to stay
In the hearts of others
A love stays forever
And remains eternal.
- Morayma Marte
The Negro Speakes Of Rivers
ReplyDeleteI’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
By: Langston Hughes
-Keon Vaughan
Young Cops
ReplyDeleteAll young cops have soft
mild eyes. Their upbringing is lavish.
They walk between blueberries and ferns,
rescuing grannies from rising waters.
With the motion of a hand they ask for
a snack from those plastic bags. They
sit down on tree stumps, looking at valleys
and thinking of their moms. But woe is me
if a young one gets mad. A Scourge
of God rings, with a club that later you can
borrow to blot your bare feet.
Every cop wears a cap, his head murmuring under it
A sled rushes down a slope in his dreams.
Whomever he kills, he brings spring to,
whomever he touches has a wound inscribed.
I would give my granny and my
grandpa, my mom and my pa, my wife
and my son to a cop to play with.
He would tie up my granny’s white hair,
but he’d probably chop up my son
on the stump of a tree. The cop himself would be sad
that his toy was broken. That’s the way they are
when smoking pot: melancholy. They take off
their caps and breathe their tears into them.
Actually, they’re like camels riding
in the desert, as if it were the wet palm of a hand.
Terence Blackwell
This is a love poem that I read that is called A Special World.WHich expresses love for that special someone.
ReplyDeleteA Special World
A special world for you and me
A special bond one cannot see
It wraps us up in its cocoon
And holds us fiercely in its womb.
Its fingers spread like fine spun gold
Gently nestling us to the fold
Like silken thread it holds us fast
Bonds like this are meant to last.
And though at times a thread may break
A new one forms in its wake
To bind us closer and keep us strong
In a special world, where we belong.
- Sheelagh Lennon -
Jotaynun Lee
Does heaven have a phone number?
ReplyDeleteMommy went to heaven,
but I need her here today.
My tummy hurts and I fell down;
I need her right away.
Operator, can you tell me
how to find her in this book?
Is heaven in the yellow part?
I don't know where to look.
I think my daddy needs her too,
at night I hear him cry.
I hear him call her name sometimes,
but I really don't know why.
Maybe if I call her,
she will hurry home to me.
Is heaven very far away?
Is it across the sea?
She's been gone a long, long time-
she needs to come home now!
I really need to reach her.
I simply don't know how.
Help me find the number, please.
Is it listed under "heaven"?
I can't read these big, big words;
I am only seven.
I'm sorry, operator,
I didn't mean to make you cry.
Is your tummy hurting too--
or is there something in your eye?
If I call my church
maybe they will know.
Mommy said when we need help
that's where we should go.
I found the number to my church
tacked up on the wall.
Thank you, operator
I'll give them a call.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
ReplyDeleteI'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
De'Jauna Rose
Gods
ReplyDeleteThe ivory gods,
And the ebony gods,
And the gods of diamond and jade,
Sit silently on their temple shelves
While the people
Are afraid.
Yet the ivory gods,
And the ebony gods,
And the gods of diamond-jade,
Are only silly puppet gods
That the people themselves
Have made.
- DeAndre Pollard
Author: Langston Hughes
Rescue Me
ReplyDeleteUser Rating:
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I hear the
thunder rolling over.
Something that intrigues me
and brings me back to life.
I want the
lightning to take over.
A perfect night of storms to
hide me from the light.
Will the rain fall down?
and rescue me.
Will it wash away?
the hurt today.
Becuase I love to feel the thunder
I want to breathe.
Will the rain fall down?
and rescue me.
Its seems like
I'm waiting for forever.
For something to help me
whether this is wrong or right.
I need the
excitment of the night.
My one and only wish
is for me to be revived.
Will the rain fall down?
and rescue me.
Will it wash away?
the hurt today.
Becuase I love to feel the thunder
I want to breathe.
Will the rain fall down?
and rescue me.
Rescue Me
By Sofia Darling
Amanda
An Awful Poem
ReplyDeleteBy Sandra R.
I wrote an awful poem,
it was bad in the extreme,
I showed it to my sister,
and it made my sister scream.
I gave it to my mother and she promptly flipped her slid,
my father blew a gasket
and my little brother hid.
I brough it with me
to school today,
my teacher nearly fainted
and my friends ran away.
I never knew how amazing it will be
it was just blast!
I’ll make another one.
-Marcus jOHNSON
In Darkness Alone
ReplyDeleteIt is dark, so dark.
I can’t breathe.
I am falling in to darkness.
I see a light; it’s a bright white light.
It is starting to fade.
It’s starting to dim.
I am all alone.
They left me here with a hole.
I smell blood.
I am bleeding out.
With a hole in my heart.
I feel so cold.
I need to get warm.
But in a room full of darkness,
There nowhere to turn.
With no family, with no soul.
I am starting not to feel whole.
I reach for the table.
So I can pull myself up.
I walked slowly to the light switch.
Up and down the light switch went.
Still dark in thee room.
I dragged my feet across the floor,
To the next room.
With blood dripping behind me.
I see a mirror,
So I went to it.
And then I saw her,
She looks pale like she is died.
Her mid-brown skin and brown eyes,
Has change colors.
Her eyes are now gray.
Her skin now pale-ish brown.
She looks weird like a vampire in the night.
I walked slowly away of the mirror,
So I didn’t have to see the girl that was me.
Jade Scott
Edwin
ReplyDeleteThe Beach by Robert Graves
Louder than gulls the little children scream
Whom fathers haul into the jovial foam;
But others fearlessly rush in, breast high,
Laughing the salty water from their mouthes--
Heroes of the nursery.
The horny boatman, who has seen whales
And flying fishes, who has sailed as far
As Demerara and the Ivory Coast,
Will warn them, when they crowd to hear his tales,
That every ocean smells of tar.
So I took her to the river
ReplyDeletebelieving she was a maiden,
but she already had a husband.
It was on St. James night
and almost as if I was obliged to.
The lanterns went out
and the crickets lighted up.
In the farthest street corners
I touched her sleeping breasts
and they opened to me suddenly
like spikes of hyacinth.
The starch of her petticoat
sounded in my ears
like a piece of silk
rent by ten knives.
Without silver light on their foliage
the trees had grown larger
and a horizon of dogs
barked very far from the river.
Past the blackberries,
the reeds and the hawthorne
underneath her cluster of hair
I made a hollow in the earth
I took off my tie,
she too off her dress.
I, my belt with the revolver,
She, her four bodices.
Nor nard nor mother-o’-pearl
have skin so fine,
nor does glass with silver
shine with such brilliance.
Her thighs slipped away from me
like startled fish,
half full of fire,
half full of cold.
That night I ran
on the best of roads
mounted on a nacre mare
without bridle stirrups.
As a man, I won’t repeat
the things she said to me.
The light of understanding
has made me more discreet.
Smeared with sand and kisses
I took her away from the river.
The swords of the lilies
battled with the air.
I behaved like what I am,
like a proper gypsy.
I gave her a large sewing basket,
of straw-colored satin,
but I did not fall in love
for although she had a husband
she told me she was a maiden
when I took her to the river.
The Faithless Wife by Federico Garcia Lorca
William Lobo
unknown writer
ReplyDeleteWhenever I needed someone to talk to
You were always there.
My eyes filled with tears, my heart filled with pain, and
You were always there.
There was no time when I had doubt
to come to you because
You were always there.
I could see in your eyes you wanted to help, and that you really cared.
Whenever I was down and blue
You were always there.
No matter my problems, are what was wrong
You were always there.
Whenever I felt like nothing matters
You were always there.
Now your gone, and I don't know what to do
I close my eyes and think of you, and how
You were always there.
It's hard to look at the pictures, and get memories of you
Can you hear me now
At night I pray, and I speak to you
I guess you were right when you told me no matter how far you were
You would always be there.
I know one day I'll see you again, but till then I have to say goodbye
Even though it hurts to hear your name, and speak of you
One thing I will always say is
You were always there.
-Jasmine Garner
...OR DIE
ReplyDeleteBy Black Ice
Three young cats
strapped with gats
decided to
ride out one night
the inflight drug
used to induce
the hindsight was
dust
the moonlight was robust
but
they couldn't see the beauty in it
their duty in it
was to carry out
another
senseless
killing
Senses and feelings
distorted
they
boarded their vessel
nestled discrete
in crouches
and
underneath seats
they tucked heat
to complete the mission
they
had no decision in
no longer
do they use our
light and dark hues
to create division in our townsmen
now
the red and blue
over-ride our brown skin
we've been conditioned
to let off them rounds
when we see
another color rag
or
hear another brother brag
'bout what set
he claimin'
poverty
drugs and
poor education
should be the target
but
we won't take aim in that
We'll kill or maim
another cat
like there's no shame in that
like there's fame in that
We hang out
them car windows
and
bust them slugs
in the name of genocide
in disguise
so we don't
take blame in that
youngster
there's no acclaim in that
the endgame in that
is either death
or jail
in either case
you fail
a test that you won't
be able to make up
when you niggas/we OK with this?/jrs
gonna wake up
and smell the blood
on your hands
leaking from your
dead homies
out to catch revenge
have another brother
leaking from your
lead/cq?/ homies
you better pick another
level
Because the greatest
trick the devil
ever pulled
was making us believe
he doesn't exist
and that's who the --
you 'bout
to put that homicide in for
don't take another life
recognize your deeds or trifeand decide what the --
You're ridin' for
Posted By:Denzel Strodder
I wrote it and it got deleated on acident and theres not enough time to write it over ( Roland Anderson)
ReplyDelete