Special Poems
Read some of the special poems written for special occassions.
It is Well
July 4 Celebration with KSO
​
Liberation, freedom, independence
All Celebrated for providing the space to find self
To define who you are and who you will be
It is not a singular activity
We are constantly liberating and freeing ourselves
Our Ideas, pre-conceived notions, requirements
There is always growth
If you are not growing you're dying
Reexamining and reinventing yourself
Is the way to keep living
Flourishing as you become all that you should
Today we celebrate independence
Freedom to do what we want to do as a country
Red, white and blue
Taking responsibility for the consequences of our choices
It is well
It is changing the idea of equality without equity
Ceasing to look into the future without examining the past
It is living without restrictions and
The ability to express ourselves without fear of persecution
This freedom bought with the blood of our forefathers
Runs deeply through the blood of all that call themselves American
Though some would not feel the joy of it for years to come
We celebrate, this day as stepping stone for greatness
As a reason to believe we deserve liberation from tyrannical control
We play our drum as we hear it
Dance to the rhythm of our hearts beating, chanting
We hold these truths to be self evident
That all men are created equal
What is all? What is men?
What is the creation?
What is equal?
When will we decide to let these truths
Ring true as the freedom we celebrate
Life, liberty and pursuit of those things that make us happy
What is happiness?
If we have not yet defined all and equal
Can we find it without seeing all as equal
Today we hold this truth high
Like fire in our hands
Light up the night sky with our love for country
Love for fellow American
Love for all, love for equality, love for life and liberty
Love for happiness, found when we truly let freedom ring.
It is well
​
​
​
​
Timeless Struggle
Juneteenth Celebration Poetry
​
In 1863, Lincoln declared that all people should be free
The country heard but some refused to respond
So there had to be more done, soldiers sent with telegrams
Laying down the new law, so that in 1865 it finally happened
Slavery found its end
And the first Juneteenth is celebrated
But the game with black lives and black labor had only begun
Because convict leasing bubbled up in the minds
Sending cheap labor to salt mines
Arresting blacks for petty crimes and then leasing out their labor
A precursor to our current prison system
They used black codes to create a way to once again
Put blacks in the place they had created
Working for little to no wage and the celebrations continued
Dunbar dubbed them as a mask, that grins and lies
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
But 1912 brought Red Summer and Black Wall Street to remind us
That some never saw us as more than disposable labor
How dare we find a way to be better
So they set fire to our homes, drowned and lynched our sons
Removed generations of hard work to create a system of success for ourselves
All behind lies and hatred, no matter how hard we tried slavery was still in the shadows
Still being written into our art Claude McCay
Wrote boldly, “like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!"
Still celebrating that slavery is dead
But the racist subjection of our black bodies comes around again
Jim Crow and red-lining
Laws to keep us feeling as though we were less than
Putting shackles on our minds, our success, our love
In 2001, it was still illegal to marry outside your race in Alabama
A sad repetition that must find an end
"We Shall Overcome"
And we always do, find a way to hold on
No matter how fast the world is moving, attempting to throw us off
There is a merry-go-round of struggle and triumph stitched into the DNA of this country
And it is timeless, forever fighting to be free from somebody or something
Some injustice rings true consistently
Constantly pulling us into the timeless struggle for acceptance
Continuously asking to be allowed freedom that should be standard
Begging to get out from under the idea that we were ever â…– less than our neighbor
Stressing and begging in poems and songs
A sentiment that has become timeless not just history
Because at times we still feel the pain
Just listen as Phyllis Wheatley cry as a slave
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
Their colour is a diabolic die."
Painting the news black and red with our skin and blood
"Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying" because the next part is still true
"Brother, brother brother
Far too many of you dying"
And we are trying to make sense of it,
Change laws and advantages
Teach our children they are powerful beyond measure
Let the world see that we are different and our lives matter
Stop being afraid but Audre Lord said
"We were never meant to survive"
What’s going on?
We are tired of the round-and-round
That seems to create the same art in a different time
It’s time for this carousel to slow down and stop
Because I don’t want my sons to be writing poems like mine
Or singing songs like John
“Keep taking me higher and higher
Don’t you know that the devil is a liar
They rather see me down with my soul in the fire
But we keep going higher, higher”
Not round and round
Simply waiting for our feet to touch down
Laws can change but people have to change too
It's the only way to stop the abuse
And allow the pain in our art to be history too.