Tuesday, June 17, 2008

How the past is always present

Liars

It is we who are liars:
The Pretenders-to-be who are not
And the Pretenders-not-to-be who are.
It is we who use words
As screens for thoughts
And weave dark garments
To cover the naked body
Of the too white Truth.
It is we with the civilized souls
Who are liars

                            - Langston Hughes

Lately I have begun to realize that as we, present day poets, write about the current state of things, the poets of the past who we revere did the same.  They did not make up the sentiments that are portrayed on the pages that they filled with dynamic thoughts and profound imagery…so why should we stop reading? Why should we turn a blind eye to their words?  I recently watched the Great Debaters (3 times in a row) and I learned something.  I learned that we are them and they wrote to guide us through just as we hope to do for future generations to come. 

OUR ANCESTORS ARE SPEAKING…I AM LISTENING

I will no longer be a liar

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Friday, January 4, 2008

Black Women, Black Men…What are we doin?

I typically stay away from talking politics and religion but I believe that this issue transcends the personal problems man has with these topics… this is about OUR little brown babies who are born into a country that has not always loved them and may just be pretending to love them now because it is “politically correct”. 

As a teenager I realized that if I wanted anything done for the handful of brown youth in my school we would need one of us in charge to ensure we had a voice.  So I became Junior class president and then ran uncontested for President of the entire student government.  I was in charge…a brown female in a predominantly white school in Columbia, MD.  The same thing is necessary for our country.  How can we with smiling faces push our children and stand behind them when they say things like,”I want to become President when I grow up”? How can we tell them that that is an obtainable goal and a worthwhile dream when we as a people can not even rally behind the only Brown man in the United States’ history to become a prime candidate in the race for the Presidency.  It baffles me that we as a people can be so disgruntled and so angry about our current existence but are doing nothing to rally behind a man who is putting his life on the line to make a change that will shake the very foundations of this country. 

The simple fact is we have had 43 presidents that do not look like us, were not raised like us, do not talk like us, and can not relate to us (Clinton played the sax and got some head under a desk but that doesn’t make him black it makes him a man who can play an instrument), and it is almost a joke for a little brown boy to say he wants to become President because we all believe it will never happen.  It is a sad day when a black women’s magazine “Essence” does a 3-4 page article on Hilary Clinton because she is a woman but forgets that it is our black man, Barack Obama, that needs our support more than any white woman.  If we as brown (black) women do not support him no one will and regardless of what many people think our voices resound in the heavens we are the strength of this nation. If we can not put our strength as black people, as black women, behind the man who was once that little boy who wanted to be President and is trying to change the way our little brown babies view themselves and their future we will always be a voiceless people who are depicted as the loudest, most beligerent, and worst of all the most hopeless.

Please go out and vote, rally for votes, now is the time of completion it is time to have a voice in this nation! Barack Obama for President.

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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Warning!!!!

This is not your mama’s poetry To say it politely this is not rated G and in its entirety it might be rated R But my lyrics are meant to effect, reach out, and connect with generation x- ers And those babies they now call predators Outcasts and outsiders Something to get those drunk with power Sober enough to see our kind of change This thang is not your mama’s poetry Sometimes my flow is choppy, not so eloquent, and sloppy But it’s a mirror reflecting the minds of today’s youth Struggling for the truth but instead get traditions pounded in their heads By adults with no rhyme and no reason who seek to appease them But are continually stunting their growth Instilling blind hope that everything is just fine Even though they are quick to sign on the dotted lines All of our birth rights away This is not your mama’s poetry and if mine weren’t my best friend she probably would’ve scolded me But she understands the demands of my mind and my hand to work jointly Flowing verse after verse as a kind of therapy and I hope not to offend you But this point of view will continue So come go with me on a journey But please heed this warning:
…THIS IS NOT YOUR MAMA’S POETRY
LOVE the poet (c) 2005
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