2019 poetry slam scholarship

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Poverty   My Arabic teacher looked at me yesterday, as wrinkles slow danced with darting eyes, and he sighed. When I compare the poverty I see in towns here,
The Earth is dying. When she breathes, the air chokes her. Her once green fields are now brown and broken. Her blue oceans are now turning acidic and full of plastic.
O' how dark, darkness is With its faded color and its emptiness. The dark of the night sits heavy upon mankind. Forsaken by their gods, they fear the tender night.  
hey you yes you my thumbs are just angry, i’m really sorry they have to pound your face l i k e  t h i s .
The radiance my contenance bears has no origins in a glow palette. I believe And from the time I first did, God’s Word became rooted in me.
Times have changed First, it was getting only myself ready For the long days at school Brushing my teeth and getting My breakfast
  In Nantucket, she grew to love the buoyant seersucker she walked on, that carried her beyond the linens and grace. They were robed with sun, eating figs from every tree,
It's All About Me Suddenly Life Shows Me How I Will Do My Part
When I was young I used to look up to many things; clouds, the stars, and up at you.   You towered over me when I was small, but now we’re even. After all I  
Trapped That's how I felt When you hear how Negative Others see you Without you being You.   My mind Is what keeps me back From showcasing Who I was And who I am now.
My name is Kimberly, I'm seventeen and I'm mixed- Mexican and Vietnamese As a kid I don’t remember a time I questioned my ethnicity
Wherever you go, there’s always someone Jewish Wherever I go, I’ve seen the news. So when I’m at the synagogue or at my youth group, The odds are, don’t look far- there’s another vigil too.
Havе you еvеr hеld in pain to thе point whеrе it sееmеd likе you didn't carе? You could'vе sworn you wеrе crying, But whеn you wеnt to wipе tеars away thеrе was nothing thеrе?
a boy shivers, though no glacial nerve rests within his skin; a boy’s shivers are trembles, screams in physicality for stars to align and
The Playground Kierstyn Edore   Laying under the warm rays, back pressed against the American mulch A naive child squints into the golden light
something isn’t right. i have bullet holes, but they aren’t from fights. i got stab wounds, something isn’t right.   i got these tattoos when all i saw was blurred lines.
i love you. i’m in love with you. you ruined every bit of happiness i thought i could try to have and now without you, i’m scared i won’t be able to be who i am or who i want to be...
i told you i loved you, you said i wasn’t good enough. you keep telling me i’m not shit, i’m not ever going to be shit— but i put myself out there for you anyways. i tried to change and readjust for you.
this pain is mentally and physically taxing, but it’ll never be reimbursed for it. try to name another bitch that’s been through what I’ve been. try to name a bitch that has been by my side through all of it.  
 nobody is going to rescue you. i’m stupid for thinking that hero could have been me. but who saves the hero when the hero is getting beat? 
the same motherfuckers that only come around when i was winning— are the same motherfuckers that stomp me when i’m apologizing and i’m sorry. i’m sorry that i can’t be who i want to be.
i don’t believe in god anymore because when i needed him the most— he never answered me. i used to try to pray the pain away,
see I can hit you with the ‘im a dog’ line, but do I really need to? you see how I am— you see how I will always say I'm fine, there's no lines to read through.
I open my Bible to see what you have to say. My heart feeling shattered, I'm only a tear away from giving up today.
my life cannot matter in a place where my body was used as a currency. because between you and me and those who look like me, freedom is the goal but uh... freedom can’t be achieved by us cuz uh...  there’s a system.
Before me is a mountain. It strecthes high to touch the sky. Inside are all my fears uncontained, But I must conquer it, or at least try.   It houses my demons and ghosts, my failures and my doubts.
are you okay? - am i supposed to be? well, that’s subjective.
i know i’m broken. please don’t remind me. i have demons too— but they hide behind me. you broke my heart. you got what you wanted— to rid myself of the thought of you; i tore my mind apart.
You asked me to speak. But I couldn't breathe. And despite this, you asked me to anyway. And you continued to ask. And I continued to disappoint. So, you left then. And at first I stayed.
Fear. Four letter word that doesn’t want to be heard. Anxiety creeps into the depths of my mind finding cracks to hide. Four letters keep the anxiety near, for myself, of the world, of the unknown.
      white men are like asteroids;               they land where ever they want,                         and decimate whatever was there before.      
where’s the worst place a black child can live?       — white comfort.
why am i not worthy to have the same things these white people have mom? — because you’re black sweetheart.   why can’t i wave to the police officer mom? — because you’re black sweetheart.  
reach for your ID but be careful not to get gunned down. these streets are feeling like syria now. misinformed gunplay and guns spray in the area. people being divided because they don’t meet the white mans criteria.
if only i had a pencil, i could write my way out of the ghetto. if only i had a pencil, i could explain the voices in my head that scream in falsetto.   if only i had a pencil,
my niggas are drenched from head to toe in red. colors matter. my moms face is overwhelmed in blue. colors still matter. traumatized criminalized minds on green. colors will matter.
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