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Every time they speak
Of injustice in the streets
A silence is born

We watch the cries of widows
And hide beneath our pale skin
a Japanese tanka #BlackLivesMatter #BlueLivesMurder

for peace in solidarity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojleMU9rZ4k
J Dec 2020
In a class, I'll sit and listen
they'll explain that I have no rights
as a member of the LGBTQ+
they'll say,
with pride of their skin,
black lives DON'T matter-
all lives do.
I'll sit here, OH YES,
I'll sit and listen
they'll talk about girls being ugly
talking about how
there are only two genders
and I'll sit here
relating women to paintings,
weaving them into my poems,
slightly pouting and confused
with my lack of their said gender.
Sighing,
I will sit here and listen
as they repeat the things
I've heard my entire life
and I'll bite my tongue, though not really
a look will pass by, rage seeps through pores
I'll leak liquid anger
until the toxins correct their rotten brains
I know I should say something,
but there are tons of them
and only micro-me.
Weak.
I'll sit here, and I will listen to them as
we all eagerly await the bell
Save us.
we're far apart, so
my mask is off now,
but when it sounds, when it promises peace
RING RING RING
I will stand, turn,
and Black Lives Matter will be almost
as prominent as a tattoo on my face,
the phrase will melt,
it will stick,
it will attach to my mouth
and say
scream
sing
the words that I cannot.
and I'll keep Sydney's hoodie on
as my bulletproof vest,
her chain against my heart
understanding that
THIS IS NOT A CHOICE
Why would I
ever
choose the pain I went through for this?
only to go home,
and hear more from my step-father,
with the victimizing mother actings
as if it never happens
writing in my eighth-period class makes me worried for their eyes.
Keith W Fletcher Nov 2020
If it is - as they say
then GOD slammed
a couple of doors - in my face
yesterday
It wasn't like I had not seen
that long haulway
set out before me
door after door...
...wide open - just as far
As I could see

So...maybe...just maybe
I was or chose to be
unaware...as they
began to slowly close

As I sailed along oblivious
to what was - not...
..to what I miss
and then...BLAM
so quick the second
that I never heard it slam
what with my momentum
roaring at full hum

I knew right then
that my...
just now ex-friend
had created a wound
believed to be one
that would never mend
which was...
at that juncture
very much right

Right....no!NO! wrong!
Right then
was that time to stop and think
About the depths
I was or was not
willing
to allow myself to sink!


" You Know," I said " Its Been In
Your Head...from the moment!"

That moment - months ago
when that bridge was crossed
Set ablaze - burned to a crisp
no way back
across the divide
me
on one side
looking back
Across that void
regretfully seeing
the uttered...not muttered
words that I had heard
and wishing right then
that that moment
had never occurred!

As two white men we be
talking about BLM
as suddenly one would decide,
to deride , not implied
but simply replied
"But it's not the right time!!!"

I sat there agape
repulsed...
as if hearing
fingernails scrape
across a chunk of slate
married to an indigenous
blessed with beautiful indigenous offspring
who carried that native appeal
grandchildren as well- wait....WAIT!!

I wanted to scream "Are you MAD- RRRrrr Uuuuuu InSANE?

With motors overheating
I loosed that string
let that hot-air balloon
rise up and steadily drift away
carrying off a friendship ( of sorts )
a favor in the act
where wise men stop
to think..instead of react!

into the wind I watched it sail
as I stepped gracefully
back from the rail
Stopping dead in my tracks

So...was I surprised
as I watched...
... those doors
SlaMMing shut
so abruptly
amid today's nevermores?
YES! ...sort of
I guess you might say
but I pulled up my anchor
set sail on calm waters
Jettisoning my rancor
starting with reasoning
seasoning
tamping down any hot embers
"Small fish of'n ave big tales!"
I read on a strangers porch
just today along my travails
My mind...
..suddenly remembers!

At first just a smallest of smiles
existed on my unwilling face
Before the laughter erupted
washing away all of it away...
...without leaving a trace!

   $mall price to be paying
that bridge so selfishly ignored
which turns out - as you knew
t'was not a payment...you willingly could afford!!

Then that breeze
blew over me..
...refreshingly cool/
replenishing me
more than I believed
was my right to be hopin'

A bestgone friend
a few hundred lost
so much was gained
than was to be lost
when all those windows did suddenly open!

That is today's truth...
...my reality lesson.

peace!!
Indigo Nov 2020
our faces

all covered with sweat,

as y'all be yellin’ at us with threats,

our hands covered

with cuts and blood,

while our arms and feet,

be caked with mud

every day,

we be prayin’ to god

for our freedom to come,

ignoring all y’all sayin’ that we were born scums,

someday imma finally

leave this place

cuz’ them folks ‘round here

be claiming that black ain’t no race

all y’all folks be hootin

while callin’ my folks *******

while y’all be sittin there

rifle in hand,

finger on the trigger

y’all whipped us

tearin’ our families apart

but my ma always be sayin’

that things like kindness

comes from deep down

in our hearts

i kneel

strugglin to breathe

as you chain my neck,

and hands

but y’all push me to the ground again

as imma’ tryin’ to stand

i reckon myself i ain’t

gonna give up now

as all y’all ruin

the fields we plough

some know what life

is like without the

cuffs and chains

but the feeling feeling of freedom

is never the same

and some

that deserve it most

never leave and die

and i know that though their body is gone

their spirit always survives
Since a lot of BLM events have been going on... I felt it right to share the new version of this poem.
Gabriel Girault Nov 2020
To the next girl I will Love.
I’m so sorry you have to deal with the mess that is me.
I don’t know how you got stuck in this position, but you must have the biggest heart.
I bet you have a way you look at me, that makes me smile.
And not the smile that I give to everyone to make them think I’m happy, but the genuine smile of my happiness.
The one I’m always embarrassed to say that I have, because I have a weird relationship with my smile, but you make me overcome it because,
You make me happy. Truly happy which is rare for me.
And I’m sorry for all the baggage I come with, I tried to check them in at a hotel, but they said that they only took one bag per customer.
I know it’s not your responsibility to carry these bags, but while I work on bringing them up to the room can you stand next to me?
Can you be there while I make a fool of myself trying to unpack and sort them?
It’s just that when you’re with me, these heavy bags suddenly become weightless, and I feel like I’m the champion of the world.
Although I may feel like the champion, I know it wouldn't be possible without you,
The true champion that is you.
But while we smile and unpack these bags, can we throw some away and furnish the world we’ve been given?
Together we have a chance at shaping the world as we see fit, so I see no problem with turning it into the world of our desires.
Why live in this place if we can’t make it our own?
We can turn it into something that we can both call home.
And even though I am a man living in a patriarchal world.
I am a Black man.
So at times I’m always on edge, never getting a chance to lay and be relaxed.
Together we can make a place where when we lay our heads down, we can both feel safe knowing that the other is near.
And that world can’t hurt us.
Eden is what we can call it, but neither of us are known to eat apples, so there will be no snakes allowed.
I bet if I look back to see how we started it was something embarrassing.
I probably tried to talk to you, but could only get a few words out.
I bet I was so nervous, because why would someone so amazing like you give me the time of day, especially when we live in an age, where time seems to be the only thing that matters.
Somewhere along the line you took pity on the poor soul that is me, and again,
I’m sorry that you have to deal with me.
I don’t always know what to say, or the time to say things, or when not to say things, or what to do, but you still stuck with me.
I can’t promise a lot except that you will always have all of me, nothing less and everything more.
It’s the least I could do, and even then I wish I could give you more.
I wish I did know what to say at times, I wish I wasn’t a nervous mess, I wish I felt like I deserved you, but I will always think you deserve more.
Again, I’m just a mess with a mantra of trying to do my best.
But never for my own sake, I do it all for you.
The future we dream of, the adventures we shall go on, and the world we shall see.
And yes, there will be hard times, nobody ever said Love was easy.
But together we can do it.
Why should the world stop us, when instead we could shape it?
Through the pain we’ll get stronger, our bond strengthened, and our Love tested so much it’ll be unbreakable.
To write of Love is sometimes complicated to me, but I take a step back and think of you, and all the words I need come to me.
Every adjective, noun, vowel, seems to come to me once I put you on my mind.
It gives me the power to pick up a pen and never let it go until everyone knows of our Love.
Loving you, is like a videogame for me.
My earliest and best moments of life deal with them.
I remember my first video game.
I picked it up and had no idea what I was doing.
But I continued to work on it, never giving up until eventually I got it.
And I kept getting better and better each time I tried.
I got stuck sometimes, but I never gave up.
I kept trying until I got it right.
I’m not the best, but I’m dedicated to seeing it through till the very end.
Bitter or sweet.
Hard or easy.
Long or short.
Now I look back at all the poems I’ve ever written. And although they all aren’t addressed to you, I feel like they were all for you.
Practice for trying to find the words to show you that I Love you.
And when I hold your hand, and refuse to let it go, it’s because I’m scared that I’ll never get the chance to hold it again. So I hold it tight, and pray for the day I never have to let it go.
And yes, I believe that even in death, when I am no longer on this earth.
I will still have my connection with you.
Our flames, still burning as bright as ever.
In our next lifetime when we meet each other again, I only have one request.
Give me that look, the one you know will make me smile, the genuine smile which lets you know how happy you make me.
Pyrrha Nov 2020
I see a rainbow sea of people
I see your culture; your history
I see your pain; your fear

I don't want to erase the battles you've won
I don't want to belittle your fight
I don't want to erase your uniqueness

I want to see a painting with the colors of life
I want to recognize your diversity; your struggles
I want to see your healing; your relief

I don't want blissful ignorance
I want to see the truth
To say a life matters
Is to address the ways it once did not;
to address the history of hatred;
to make sure that the future will change
Juliana Oct 2020
I’m obsessed with fictional characters.
There’s just something about knowing nothing’s real,
and having the solace that any misfortune
goes away when you close the page,
and any joy you can take with you on your day.

On days like today, I need that.
I need to jump into a book,
to pretend like my world isn’t real,
like those that want to hurt the ones I love aren’t real,
that this hate, and injustice, and fear
is all just a figment of my imagination.

I shouldn’t beg for a fictional dictator to materialize into my world.
I shouldn’t believe that someone who was written to be evil
is better than those living.
But I do.

Because how can people be this evil.
How can there be this much hate?
How can people hurt others,
for what?
What do they gain by putting others down?
What do they gain by making the world a worse place?

…I don’t have an answer,
and I don’t think I want to know one.
All I know is that I’m going to keep fighting.
Today, and always,
until those I love, and those I will never get a chance to meet
have the same rights as everyone else.
Until the world is a place I want to live in.
Until the world is so perfect, it’s almost fictional.
Until I don’t want to leave.
LGBT+ Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter. For those hurting, I am here for you, I am with you. May the world be a better place tomorrow.
Traveler Oct 2020
Who are these provocateurs
Ready for anything
Counterintelligence
Acts to encourage chaos
The anger is real
Caused by big banks
Corporate America
Lawmakers passing
Bill after bills
Criminalising poor people
??????????????????????????
Traveler Tim

A lot of people are concentrating on Looters and rioters, with no idea who the real provocateurs are...
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