Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Shayn Powell Apr 2018
21st century slavery: Shayn Powell

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything looks fine,
People striding in glee?

Look hard for it may
Be a mystery,
That we’re living through
21st century slavery.

We claim these are
The lands of the free.
It’s a fib, that’s not at
All what it seems.

Because if it were
the land of the free
than Martin Luther King may
never have had his dream.

There wouldn’t have
Been a march for
Freedom in 1963.
And Mr King wouldn’t
Have lost his life
For standing up in
What everyone
Should've believed.

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything looks fine,
People striding in glee?

Look hard for it may
Be a mystery,
That were living through
21st century slavery.

America, “land of the free”
Were fine we claim,
living in prosperity.
“Everyone’s equal”,
You’ve heard it too, How silly
Don’t you agree?

My best friend
Rolled his window up
when he saw a policeman.
It’s sad, But this is the
reality we live in.

“We’re equal” but we
Strip kids from their dreams
Because they were brought here
Against their will illegally.

Have some leniency,
Then again you’re
changing their scenery.  
How can you do that
So easily?

And what’s this ****
we learned in history?
Jim Crow laws?
Thank god those are gone.
Or so we thought

You’re not sneaky America,
Mass incarceration is
Nothing but a plot
For a group of minorities
To be 2nd class citizens
To us all.

That’s evil that should leave
everyone appalled.

It’s time for a call
For action.
All this arrogance
Has left us distracted
From what our nation
claims to practice.
Because

Take a look around,
It’s 2018.
What do you see?
Everything’s NOT fine,
People AREN'T striding in glee.

Really look for it’s
Not hard to see
That were living through
21st century slavery.

Yours truly,

That worried white kid
Who lives in a society
That’s unruly.
Witnessed a buddy of mine roll his window up at a stoplight when he saw a police officer at the same stoplight and I wrote this up shortly after.
as the world crumbles before us, the darkness slowly engulfing the planet.

“I love you.” I said.
“It’s too late.” You’d say.

Then I look into your eyes, one last time. Tears roll down my cheeks knowing that I wouldn’t see you again for a very long time.
JomarISaGirl Mar 2018
Ours is not like a classic tragedy story that marks.
Nor like one of those Nicholas Sparks’.
Ours is too perfect to just let go,
but too painful to continue.

Ours is excruciatingly beautiful
to just coop in a book.
I’ve wrote down these words,
so everyone can look.

Ours is trouvaille.
Not a fairytale.
And if I get a chance,
I want to have it more than once.

In another life, I’ll fight harder.
In another life, we’ll be together.
There’s no need to let go of each other.
In another life, it’ll be you and me forever.
Orange Rose Mar 2018
Oh little bird with such sweet sound,
Why do you sit upon the ground,
When you could soar and flit and flutter,
And get away from all the clutter,
Which threatens peace and clouds the mind,
And deafens ears and makes eyes blind?

I hear you singing from your tree.
Your music seems to beckon me.
To fly would be a lovely thing,
To soar above on feathered wings,
To escape from that which plagues me so,
And chuckle at the ground below.

Alas, dear bird, it cannot be,
For I am bound by Gravity.
NvturalMystic Mar 2018
It was a broken bedroom
No ceilings nor walls, just an empty bed full of scars
The floor was cracking, and the vinyl was scratching
Eyes were capturing, bodies were *******
While the smoke seduced itself between the crevices
Of my womanhood, I was getting lost in the way you would
Light up the whisky and inhale the wood flavored elixir
Out of my own mouth, I was framing our burnt cigarettes
In this broken bedroom, I was hanging up our addictions
In this no-walled bedroom, even if they hung crookedly like our hearts
They maintained their humanity the same way our bodies did when met during the zenith
Of a thousand stars, and I… was your scientist.
Trying to search every why and how of everything that made you. Enthralled in forming your hypothesis, you were an -ology waiting to be ****** by discovery and curiosity. I was willing, but you were leaving while staying in this trembling hotel room.
Room 713… you called for room service and I brought you what you needed. The coffee wasn't compatible with the taste of your tongue. Nothing could be done.
As we spoke over Lucille’s cry, your hands chose to dance by themselves. And here I was wishing my body would be the dance floor, one last time.
Everything we did was always the last time. And here I was, trying to make sure they lasted enough for you to stay.
First one I ever post here. In need of more editing but here it is :)
R Mar 2018
The extra,
Understudy,
Alternate.

I’m the topics not covered in health class,
The friend you only talk to once you’ve run out of options.
The opener for Duran Duran,
The new moon not seen,
The sexuality deemed “fake”,
That feeling you know but can’t name,
The secret you’re forced to keep hidden,
The rock in a sea of people terrified of change.

But Change is what you do,
And leave me,
Your sickbed shirts,
In a crate.
Me,
Your wooden pipe,
In the trash can.

You terrorist.
You Ziggy Stardust,
Landing on this rocky planet
Only long enough to make a mark,
And then changing,
Leaving me counting on the 3 hands I used to carry your baggage,
The number of things I did wrong.

If you were human,
I’d be a dog.
You’re the ocean.
I’m rock.
I’m the extra,
Understudy,
Alternate,
Unspeakable,
Acquaintance,
Lone wolf,
Phased rock,
Fake,
Forgotten,
Desperate,
Unchangeable,
Other.

“But that’s okay.
You’ll change.
It’s just a phase”
Ziggy Stardust - "making love with his ego" - Ziggy Stardust from the album Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from mars
Duran Duran/lone wolf - Hungry like a wolf
Jessica Jarvis Feb 2018
Upon the dark night, striking three;
A tick representing each step in time,
but time overwhelmed by a trinity
of peace, and a plan greater than one's wildest dreams.

As the trees clap their praises unto a summer wind, and
waves flood the skies with their roaring rumbles of exaltation,
a bird sings unto the dark night her song, unique, sweet, and free-spirited

Another beauty upon the night, a tulip,
blossoming, not fully grown, in admiration of this free spirit, the bird.
The tulip observes from a distance the song the bird sings

A praise, a never ending thankfulness
"Thank You for the trees,
Thank You for the waves,
And thank You for me," the bird sings.

In awe of the song bird, the tulip longs to grow, to blossom, to fly, to sing;
Oh, the joy, the praise, the song she'll bring
when fully grown to exemplify her thanks to the three

But, Hold! The clock ticking three, a breath He takes.
The songs of beauty the bird once sang
are silenced more than a whisper

Oh, dear, wilting Tulip; she wonders,
"Why?" she misunderstands, "Why has the bird's song been hushed?"
Oh, so joyful with praise, the songs she sang,
but now unto another Audience, unheard by the flower;

However, the sun rises, the flower realizes,
A new day is upon her. The trees clap their praises unto a summer wind, and
Waves flood the skies with their roaring rumbles of exaltation,
Just like any other day.

Partaking in full bloom overnight, grown, she hears the call of three:
You're unique, sweet, and your free-spirit will sing,
for the steps of time past quicker than the steady rhythm of that clock ticking

Fly free, song bird,
Your legacy will only grow sweeter with time
As the bloom of a tulip smiles and praises the One unto which your song once thrived.
Written sometime around January, 2017.

This was written out of pain: legitimate heartbreak, but I suppose most poetry is, right? This was my first "real" poem that I've ever written. This began as an assignment and became a coping mechanism with a serious loss. I did, however, learn an important lesson: loss can be beautiful... I was very particular and purposeful with this poem, so there is a lot of symbolism. Interpret it as you please.
Sophia Crocker Feb 2018
The Things you did to me,
The way you made me feel,
Burned in wounds,
I thought they'd never heal.
It keeps me awake at night,
I keep thinking... "why?"
All the pain,
Kept me in chains.
You took things I never had,
Things I wanted so bad.
I thought I could escape it... but I couldn't.
I'ts hard to forgive,
It's hard to move on.
You made your choice,
The lines were drawn.
You put me down,
Left me to drown.
Yet I stand strong,
Keep moving on.
And there I see your lonely face in the corner of the fast food shop,
twelve years later on my way home from my job.
You don't know me,
But I didn't forget,
Your face red dripping with sweat.
This life you chose,
The opportunities you closed.
Made fun of me at a young age,
Your words closing in like a cage.
But I didn't fall,
I didn't let you stab me with words in the heart.
And now I'm here and you're over their.
I didn't ask for this... I swear.
But you made me strong,
and now i feel I belong.
You though you won,
And that you had all the fun.
But look where I am.
My life is clear of traffic jams.
I feel happy and free,
while your floating away in a dark sea.
I'm almost happy you did this,
But it's something I won't miss.
So thank you for your hate,
And the way you treated me,
Because now I'm happy and finally feel free.
This is my first poem. Im new here and have a lot of room for improvement. Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions to help me out. Thanks!
SJ Feb 2018
I have no emotion,
Aren’t I horrible?
I don’t care for people,
Aren’t I horrible?
Been a bad child,
The worst of them all,
I’ll never be good,
Not at all,
I hate myself,
I wish I’d vanish,
Try’d my best to be good,
But ends up being bad,
I wish I could do better,
But I am just horrible...
first poem to post, and first time making an unrhymed poem lol
Next page