One of my Literature students introduced me to the world of Instagram poets this week, and so, in honor of the UK National Poetry Day, I decided to give it a try myself with this poem:
Category: Poetry
Unfair. Unjust. Uncool.
I’m one of the privileged by birth Unfair. Unjust. Uncool. Born white, it’s not my fault. Born white, its by default. Born American, citizenship assumed. Born American, I didn’t choose. Born middle class, automatic prosperity. Born middle class, like a lottery winner Just because I’m privileged, doesn’t mean it’s fair. Culture and socialization give me…
Margins
Margins bring order and cleanliness But I’d prefer to run insane, my life all a mess The white space on the page brings focus to the text The notes and scribbles scrawled filling space, erasing rest Jambo moja’s the theme: only one thing But I’ve misplaced the bold in all my running When the page…
Faces
I’ve been looking around at the faces in all the places Now I’m thinking we’re not so different despite our races All of us be masking varied insecurities Hiding who we are, scared of our impurities Perceived imperfections force up the walls Hurting and broken, we build barriers tall Push people away, faking it till…
Light
When I see you, my soul explodes with colors like the sunset. I chase you, hoping to capture just an inkling of your brightness. Your sparkling rays ignite my heart’s fires, leaving me breathless. I laugh as you jump and glimmer across the water, evading every net, Turning dewdrops to diamonds, stardust sprinkling the ground…
Dada Conda
Its late. I’m tired. I want to go home. I squeeze through the door No seat to be found. We be bumpin’ and grindin’ total strangers smashed together lives colliding sharing sweat swaying to the rhythm of potholes and missing shocks Half-asleep, I stand one eye open to not miss my stop Then I see…
Live Beautifully
Once small children we scribbled and scrawled, we colored grass orange and painted skies green, then ran to proclaim that proud artists we were. But then as we grew, everything changed. Ashamed and secretive our art became And some of us stopped creating at all Forgotten colors bled and words dried up And inside, our…
Tribute to my Parents
This afternoon, during staff meeting, we watched a video comparing Intelligent Design with evolution. This video was similar to the hundreds of others I watched throughout my teen years, and with it came the realization of how incredible my parents are, as well as the true quality of the education I received. I’d like to…
Real Life
Real life isn’t just a hashtag on a silly twitter post. It isn’t just fun and games and yolo all day long. Real life is smiles and tears. It is laughter and weeping. Real life is cool breezes and power outages. It is warm sunshine and freezing rain. Real life is hello and goodbye. It…
Love is Madness
“Love is madness” they say And truly mad it seems To lay down one’s life Just so others can live “Love is patient” they say A virtue hard won By thinking of others And men before time “Love is hopeful” they say Not down or depressed Seeing sunshine in rain And beauty in pain “Love…