Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Alan S Bailey May 2015
Black people are wonderful!
Some of my best friends are black.
White people are just great too,
They aren't all greedy or "on crack."
So why is it that we can't all feel this way?
Good and bad, right and wrong, and how
We are all a part of this truth all along,
That we all have some part that needs to be fixed,
No humans were made without any faults or wrong,
It's all for the best, we're all wonderful-if the ignorant
Would just get to know them better-it's only a thing
That needs to be addressed, not to hold one ethnic
Color or another to follow a set of rules to the letter.
Sean Flaherty May 2015
It's so gratifying to realize that
I don't care what you're up to
Post-deluge-of-Dilaudid. Or
Adder-all-outta-luck
Where the beige meets the blue, and
The cat's smelling flowers, and
We're squished in this chair, here,
But you don't give a ****.

This was supposed to be the
Maiden voyage of
The S.S. Dog-Staying-Home-Alone
But, instead, familiar
Anxious chills, and shaky
Hands, and aching bones...

Hell, Baltimore is burning, whilst
Nepal just falls apart.
Sun beams, young, and up-and-coming,
Never getting called to start.

Does the wind smell
So sickly, did it die?
With the rest of me?
Is this that "long-count to thirty?"
Am I being too wordy?

"Stop rhyming, we need to drink."
I didn't write this as a sequel but it was the poem I wrote next and they are almost two perspectives on the same conversation
Skylar May 2015
The human being is an inherently contentious creature.

Seven billion rock-wall eyes;
Eyes staring belligerently down seven billion sharp noses;
Noses affixed to seven billion faces;
Faces covered in creases and scars,
Framed in unruly hair
And outlined in stark exactness
By the flames cowering in bipedal shadows.

Into the human heart is chiseled "inexorable".
We are an incongruence:
We row up the rapids,
Scale the waterfall
And taunt the oily heavens from atop Devil's Tower.

We will always get what we want,
Whether it involves killing the albatross
Or playing Gondorff's chess.
Whether we wrest it from Gaia's grasp
Or that of our more miserly peers.

Robert C. crystalised our resolve.

The riot gear-clad Blue and Green with timers in their throats
Stand abreast.
Chanting "Listen to Mother. Mother knows best.",
They begin the forward press.

When an impish grenade leaps our way,
We fling it back between mouthfuls of chips.

The barricades erected
By Mother and ourselves alike
Are many and implacable and incessant,
But they will be broken and overtaken.

They will be broken and overtaken by us,
The humans,
Because we are.
r0b0t Nov 2014
This revolution's got a lot to say
This revolution needs to be heard
Don't sit down, don't die
This isn't your time
This is war in the streets,
This will not be beat,
And I will tug my feet through the muck
The muck of a beaten generation
And I will drag my children out of the cells
And I will fight for freedom, I will fight for freedom
And I will stand up, don't back down
Listen to the beat of the drumming hearts
I will drag my feet through the muck
I will drag my feet through the muck
No war, not anymore
No war, not anymore, this is a revolution
This is here and now, this is us and we won't back down
This is a revolution.
Blurry Vision May 2015
Isn't about the hatred of another person
Isn't about screaming opinions at the top of your lungs
Isn't about attacking others

Social Justice
Is about standing in the middle of a crowded room and shouting what's right as they shout what's wrong
Words flowing
Blood pumping

Screaming about Baltimore and Ferguson
White people crying wolf while blacks cry fear

Social Justice
Is the construct that is refused because it's right
And we know it's right
But refuse to believe it in all of its glory
Mark Lecuona May 2015
I feel the heat of your emotions
But mine have not walked into the fire
I know the pain you have endured
But I am made numb by selfish desire
I hear an angry song in the streets
But it was sung by a heartbroken choir
I saw a mother strike her own son
But it was love that became his savior
Brycical Apr 2015
nearly 200 years ago
which means my genetics have directly contributed
to the current system
that continues thrusting knees on the throats
of an entire race of brothers and sisters.  

Sick knots of frustration churn in my stomach
while fist and eyelids clench tight
burning razor tears slowly trickling down my face
at the very idea one of my ancestors--
part of my DNA
once treated a living, breathing woman of color
like a permanent maid meant only to labor inside and outside.  

I'm sharing this to admit and reveal my family's
complacency in a system
continuing to reap the so-called benefits
from a capitalist mindset
that has upgraded beyond physical cold metal shackles,
evolving into ball and chain conversation words
where people worry more about property damage from riots
instead of deaths at the hands of the fraternal order of timeout.  

I'm sharing this to continue conversations
for so long in America have been shuffled around, cast aside
as if it were an embarrassing high school phase
politely laughed away    
like on holidays when my family and I
would listen to grandparent's occasional choice phrases
that began "Well the blacks are just blah blah blah..."

Like a child caught ******* by parents,
our pale shame has made us bury the past below sea level
hoping nobody would notice.
But now, the skeletons are beginning to rise,
seeping through the ground  
along with fears of other dusty bones
buried under the red road.

Many of our ancestors
have been trying to dig deeper holes
with phrases like
"I don't understand, there was MLK and Honest Abe,
what more do
  they  want?"
ploughing ahead with fingers shoved in ears
singing "La la la let's just move on, it was a long time ago"
overlooking the equality and empathy  
that has been lacking up to the present.
Like two leaders could wave a magic wand overnight
erasing the dismissive dis-ease of white skinned superiority
we've been weaving into of our laws,
conditioning into our DNA,
evolving from slavery to segregation to target practice and tax brackets
despite singing "Land of the free"
even though there's a disparity
between rioters in inner cities  being called "thugs"
while rioters at sport events are "party goers."

The first step is acknowledgement,
unfortunately we can't force someone to understand,
but we can support and be there
for our brothers and sisters
with kind, encouraging words,
taking steps to pull out
of the land and people selling business,
instead investing in the new currency of presence and attention
unlike my ancestors.
almost 200 years ago.
Some say if you dig up the past, all you get is *****.

Tell that to archeologist constantly discovering new things or therapists guiding others through traumatic past events.
Ok, I didn't want to do this
but there's rules that you must know
Etiquette to be followed
A line that you must toe

Listen very closely now
I think you all should try it
The things that you will now learn
About a protest and a riot

Firstly, have a purpose
Just random shouting, that's persay
If you do not have a topic
Then all the new folks go away

Throwing bricks at coppers
Breaking windows on the street
Is this a sign of protest
Or is it idiots in heat

No signage, and no speakers
Just random yelling for a cause
This isn't a good protest
Just breaking random laws

A protest has a purpose
It presents a point of view
A riot is an ugly thing
Which one is right for you

MLK could run a protest
Make a point and get things done
All without a mob forcing
A cop to use his gun

The rules really are simple
Keep the young ones all at home
For people in glass houses
Should really not throw stones

A peaceful resolution
From a protest is the goal
But a riot is just aimless
It puts the city in a hole

Victims of a riot
Are not the ones who are to blame
They're just owners of the business'
Who get caught up in the game

Next time that you protest
Protest rioting instead
It will turn out for the better
And nobody will end up dead
Justin G Apr 2015
History is being made right before us and all you can contribute is contempt? Since when have we all become so polarizing? There has never been a civilization not built on war.

I'm all for mind over matter,
but If all lives matter?
than please respect mine
Show admiration not shame
Because they aren't to blame
It's hard to remain sane and ignore
When every month it rains and it pours
They see looting and dysfunction
I see grouping and discussion
Anger is no way to communicate
But it's the best commute to irate
I'm all for mind over matter
But if all lives matter?
Than I don't care whose
Business you mind
Just as long as you
Don't mind mine.
Next page