December 0

Blog Archive

Tue, 15.10.2024

BLADES by C.K. Williams

When I was about eight, I once stabbed somebody, another kid, a little girl.I’d been hanging around in front of the supermarket near our houseand when she walked by, I let her have it, right in the gap between her shirt and her shortswith a piece of broken-off car antenna, I used to carry around […]

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Mon, 01.01.2024

White Man’s Burden by Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man’s burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go send your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need To wait in heavy harness On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half devil and half child Take up the White Man’s burden In patience to abide To veil the […]

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Sat, 04.12.2021

Theme For English by Langston Hughes

The instructor said,       Go home and write       a page tonight.       And let that page come out of you—       Then, it will be true. I wonder if it’s that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.    I went to school there, then Durham, then here    to this college on the hill above Harlem.    I am […]

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Sun, 12.09.2021

NKOSI, SIKELEL’ IAFRIKA (Lord Bless Africa) by Enoch Mankayi Sontonga

Xhosa English Nkosi, sikelel’ iAfrikaMalupakam’ upondo lwayo;Yiva imitandazo yetu Chorus Yihla Moya, yihla MoyaYihla Moya Oyingcwele Sikelela iNkosi zetu;Zimkumbule umDali wazo;Zimoyike zezimhlouele,Azisikelele. Sikelel’ amadol’ esizwe,Sikelela kwa nomliselaUlitwal’ ilizwe ngomonde,Uwusikilele. Sikelel’ amakosikazi;Nawo onk’amanenekazi;Pakamisa wonk’umtinjanaUwusikilele. Sikelela abafundisiBemvaba zonke zelilizwe;Ubatwese ngoMoya WakoUbasikelele. Sikelel’ ulimo nemfuyo;Gzota zonk’indlala nezifo;Zalisa ilizwe nempiloUlisikelele. Sikelel’ amalinga etuAwomanyana nokuzaka,Awemfundo nemvisiswanoUwasikele Nkosi Sikelel, Afrika;Cima bonk’ […]

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Sat, 24.07.2021

STRANGE FRUIT by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bearing a strange fruitBlood on the leaves and blood at the rootBlack bodies swinging in the Southern breezeStrange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant SouthThe bulging eyes and the twisted mouthScent of magnolia sweet and freshThen the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is a fruit for the […]

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Thu, 01.07.2021

PASSION PLAY (who you gonna get when all the slaves are free) by Joni Mitchell

Magdalene is tremblingLike a washing on a lineTrembling and gleamingNever before was a man so kindNever so redeeming Enter the multitudesIn Exxon blueIn radiation roseEcstasyNow you tell meWho you gonna get to do the dirty workWhen all the slaves are free?(Who’re you gonna get) I am up a sycamoreLooking through the leavesA sinner of some […]

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Thu, 01.07.2021

ENCHANTMENT by Lewis Grandison Alexander

I Life goes by moving, Up and down a chain of moods Wanting what’s nothing. II My soul is the wind Dashing down fields of Autumn: O, too swift to sing. III I shall spend my moods Like a rose discards leaves And die without moods. IV My ears burn for speech And you lie […]

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Fri, 22.01.2021

THE HILL WE CLIMB by Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves,where can we find light in this never-ending shade?The loss we carry,a sea we must wade.We’ve braved the belly of the beast,We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,and the norms and notionsof what just isisn’t always just-ice.And yet the dawn is oursbefore we knew it. Somehow we do it.Somehow we’ve […]

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Sun, 03.01.2021

WOMANSLAUGHTER by Pat Parker

What was his crime? / He only killed his wife. But a divorce I say. / Not final, they say; Her things were his / including her life.” Convicted not of murder / but of “womanslaughter” because “Men cannot kill their wives. / They passion them to death.” For this murder in Texas, he served […]

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Tue, 18.08.2020

Swing Low Sweet Chariot by Wallace Willis

Swing low, sweet chariotComing for to carry me homeSwing low, sweet chariotComing for to carry he home I looked over Jordan and what did I seeComing for to carry he homeA band of angels coming after meComing for to carry me home Swing low, sweet chariotComing for to carry me homeSwing low, sweet chariotComing for […]

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New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

Respect yourself, my brother, for we are so many wondrous things. Like a black rose, you are a rarity to be found. Our leaves intertwine as I reach out... BROTHERS LOVING BROTHERS by Vega.
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