#blm poems on Hello Poetry

Rich Oct 2018

One day while on my front steps
under a Mars red sky
a child’s ball rolled into my foot
he retrieved it
thanked me
and scurried back to his family in the distance

all in one swift breath

In that moment I said “no worries.”

But when I reminisce
about the times when I was in your Velcro kicks
what I really wanted to say
is that I hope they raise you to become a Phoenix.

I hope they teach you to rise from any ash beneath you
I hope they teach you to respect and feel blessed,
to never be the prey of jackals in men’s clothing
to know when life is the boxer or the ring
to know when life is the boat or the typhoon tide you must find a way to swim through

I hope they teach you never to treat a woman like something that can be bought
I hope they teach you what LGBT means
I hope they teach you what BLM means
I hope they teach you what USA means and is
because at times those clash

I hope you never let the words of another mouth
enter your psyche and leave with your pride

I hope you never get dumped on your birthday
I hope you never learn what desperation feels like

and I sincerely hope that they teach you to care about what others face
and that growing older is the farthest thing from a race.

#adulthood #phoenix #growth #memory #maturity #love #lgbt #blm #rap #mars

Ifeanyi Ndolo Sep 2018

Trial

Pow Pow*
A little boy dead,
Shot down by a cop in the street
Another victim laid at their feet,
All we see is red,
The community stricken with grief
Adding a whole new chapter to the beef,
Another trial for the world to dread,
Once again they get off scot free
Can you imagine the image that paints for me?
There are no fences to mend
This is a running trend

Welcome to the court
Officer Jones please report
He was just another ****
Just a stupid little bug
I swear he had a knife out
How could I not doubt
I feared for my life
I have a child and a wife
Why does he even matter
We should stop this useless chatter
We all know how this ends
Why bother making amends

Mr. Brown you were a witness
Could you speak on this business
I'm sad and depressed yet you ask me to speak
The child had no say he was thoroughly weak
Did a child of nine really frighten you
What other ******* would you like to spew
You saw a knife while we saw a pen
Blacks ain't never allowed to find their zen
If were not thugs and criminals y'all cant sleep
All you ever want are mindless sheep
You gun us down to have us stop
Then hold these trials that always flop

I'm mentally drained
Undoubtedly strained
You never let us rest
Always ready to be a pest
That woman there crying, despairing so loudly
His mother, his saint, wounded so soundly
That man there crying, pacing so sadly
His father, his teacher, parading so wildly
Will you ignore their pain
And allow it to rain
Or allow them to win
To **** off one sin

Now you America its time for your trial
Just how long will you live in denial
Skeletons fill your closet
And yet you made a profit
You've destroyed our lives
But what is your prize
Your country is divided
These actions misguided
Our anger our pain
You believe they'll be slain
Be forgotten and stopped
I refuse to be dropped
To die like a dog
and lose to a false god.

#blm #sad #lonely #social #justice

Akira Chinen Sep 2018

a lost part of America

A blood red sunset drips over
the black asphalt city skyline
somewhere in a lost part of America

where the dream has
long been dead and buried
and hate and fear rule
the rural streets that are protected
by peace keepers
that practice ******
more often than upholding the law

It has been declared open season
on any crow the color
of a starless night sky
and the dove has become
a symbol of
to protect and serve
their own kind
birds of a feather
that cover for one another

justice is blinded
by the snow covered truth
and the color of corruption
is coincidentally the same
as the color of money

the poor have little choice
but to trade their bones
and their hopes
to the corporations
of the new land
of the free
to be owned by
and controlled by
a minimum wage
that only guarantees
to keep the poor
poor enough
  to work another day
    and another day
      and another day

until there bones are
nothing but powder
and their beds
are nothing but coffins
for the barely living

and life somewhere
in a lost part of America
at the end of everyday
the sky turns red
and the color of blood
runs through the streets
as the doves go along
with their business
of the murdering of crows

#themurderingofcrows #blm #blacklivesmatter

Akira Chinen Sep 2018

The Murdering of Crows

A crow never stole corn
   that the earth didn’t give freely
The man too often takes
  too much credit for what
    he puts down into the dirt
Wether it is a seed or a body
As if he alone made
  life sprout and grow
As if without him
   the earth would not be green
    the sky would not be blue
As if he himself is
  the very GOD he prays to
The man forgets his place
  when murdering the crow
   for nothing more
     than being a crow
Mistaking black beaks
  and black feathers
    and black eyes
  as things that must
    always be up to no good
A bird that is no good
  for anything but a target
    for his hate and fear
As if the crows heart
   was meant for nothing other
     than to give his bullets
        something to bite into
The man becomes something
   less and less
every time he murders
    another crow

#blm #blacklivesmatter

The Calm Aug 2018

The Police & I

How am I supposed to explain...the pain
to someone that wouldn't lend an ear...to hear
my fear about towards people in blue....who to you
seem like heroes, people who do.....only what they have to
You admit that some are corrupt, some aren't right
but black people need to coop, you think we always fight
against people that carry guns? have all the might?
historically oppressing people of color, have been the plight
I have done nothing wrong, but still my hands I raise
heart beating out of my chest, eyes are glazed
I feel them filling up, and I'm amazed, that I feel total fear
I feel depraved, but I have done nothing wrong,
is being black, just enough to play the song, to take us back
to Jim crow and his friend, ancestors in a shack,
shackled up by their hands, feet and on their back
is the American dream, American promise,
It said I promise you can be free, I promise
but here I am 200 years later,
flashing red and blue lights behind me, light a light saber
I smile, I'm courteous, I'm kind, put on my best behavior
hoping I'm not sent to meet my maker
because I've done nothing wrong

A story of getting pulled over for a random traffic stop and feeling an irrational, heart pounding time of fear

#social #justice #trayvon #martin #blm #police #brutality