Human Rights
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“Never tell Zayda you're hungry.”
"Never tell Zayda you're hungry."
I was told very long ago
By Mama, his daughter, who made him so happy,
I came into existence, naked yet clothedwith innocence and unaware,bathed with my mother’s blood,old folks heard me cry and were so glad.I came not into this unknown sphere by my own will
I died a million times
That day packed with so many
Pairs of eyes that it dazzled
When I swallowed so much water
That I’ll never go thirsty again
Today I feel griefUnlike any otherMy country has fallen In hands of angry men My mother weeps For whom I do not yet know Perhaps for my brotherWho fought for change But couldn’t bring it
Where is the magic?We all start out knowing magic.We are born with hurricanesand whirlwinds, oceansand galaxies inside us.We are able to sing to birdsand read the cloudsand see the destiny
Oh, what have I done?
I knew it was wrong,
From the start of it all.
But once night fell
The darkness swallowed
Innocence.
Beautiful black nurturing Mother,
Throughout history there is no other,
Cutting through the dark
It's a cold, it's a dark which dwell in my shivering heart
My fears make me chasing through the losses I bear,
All these pieces which are falling apart.
Spreading my lashes outwards to the sun, moon and stars.
Connecting bodies as a rhizome,
Emerging here and there, lost in nowhere.
Moulding rhythms, rhymes, tones, flights and falls between the words.
Remain untouched by the love and acceptance of the other
Stay beyond of life and people's circles
You're all alone
The best you can do is to hide yourself from your mother
Created for a family bond
After mass incarceration broke the family bond
Needing a sense of love and protection
For many Gangs took on those wanting affections
People arrested on non-violent crimes
This is no dream to me
It was not my ancestors dream
It was not something we wanted to achieve
Kidnapping and capturing brought us here
Where we built on once sacred Native lands
Do you care
Do you give a damn
Look around at all this bloodshed
We're not making this up
It's time to wisen up
The evidence has always been here
People are dying
They ask my why I believe in God
When God doesn’t do shit
When God is not there when young men become refugees of war
When children’s bodies shrivel up from starvation
Who is it?
Is it the mail carrier?
The bank teller?
The dentist?
The Chrisitian?
The news reporter?
The artist?
The Buddhist?
The construction worker?
The bartender?
Who is it?
Is it the mail carrier?
The bank teller?
The dentist?
The Chrisitian?
The news reporter?
The artist?
The Buddhist?
The construction worker?
The bartender?
When the gesture of kneeling demands to be heard
And the rainbows in the sky earned their own parades,
People are excited to check name boxes on paper,
While goddesses of the workplace are finally being praised
most of her works are
serenades to miracles
that occur daily.
some of her works are
cows will be cows will be cows.
named miraculous.
the miracle is
It's HARD These Days To Fight ... " The Good fight " ... !!!
When So MANY Things Are Kept From ... "Sight" ... !!!!!
Why Do We Have MOUTHS ... ?
If We Cannot Talk ... !?!
While Those Who Should SHUT IT .... !!!!!
Are Building A FORT ...
anabolism (n.): the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones together with the build-up of energy.
cut-chop
Have you ever felt a knife cut
From your neck down to your ribcage
Almost piercing your heart
And it feels like you're being pulled apart
When in fact
This may very well save your life
"Akonadi, the people’s activist."
Akonadi is an oracular goddess of justice and a guardian deity for
women. Inspired by a Ghananian goddess.
“Basic white chick” this is what I usually get stereotyped as because I’m a blonde white girl
I get called dumb, and stupid just because of the color of my hair
Do you know how it felt when i was there with you sitting under concrete at the couch on that day.
Do you know how it felt when you were saying those things about me and how I look.
El Chupacabra feeds off of goats,
They rely on the blood from their throats.
But soon all the goats will be gone
And they will have nothing to feed their spawn.
They go out and search under the moonlight,
i feel sad.
i feel sad because the world is angry.
i want to use my words to sooth its temper
but paper isn’t enough.
and when i shout them,
she who has the pussy makes the cashshe who makes the cash holds the gun. she who holds the gun pulls the trigger. she who pulled the trigger had to run. and she keeps on runnin...
The wind blows solemnly through my bones
The crows no longer sing their songs
It feels like a blizzard in my mind
My psyche being eaten away by frost bite.
I’m losing my mind
Wake up, America
the girls are crying, souls are dying
brothers in neighborhoods, broke as
hell but they’re trying, their utmost best
against an unjust system that
Pretty bird fall away Pretty bird come and play God made us out of clay But we don’t give a shit not even a prayer of thanks We live in a world where I don’t care is the coolWe live in a world when not giving a fuck is praised Killing our broth
It’s different than a period
Dripping down your thigh -
That’s from me: that’s mine.
Not the boy at the party who
Let you feel safe -
Her humane heart beat ajar,
Poor child, being a false saint,
Combat booted feet in tar.
Searching for the dullest star,
I was born here, but I didn’t ask to be.My parents thought this place would be amazing. They saw a future of peace and love;Little did they know, it would turn out crazy.Where no one loves me, knows me, respects me;I wish this could be a dream, an
I do care, shouldn't you?
Of a war torn world
Where your race and class rule your life
With hatred at every border
Children losing their childhood
Wondering what tragedy can possibly come next
Even though the topic of sex makes me feel uncomfortable,
there is a problem that needs to be addressed.
For years in school, they teach us about sex between a man and a woman,
We are not living under the third Reich,I march in stride with cogent sign in hand.
This is what a Democracy looks like.
We finger through causes, plug holes in the dike,
Fuck me Ass Kicking Pumps
I once read a poem about shoes;
that one shouldn't wear fuck me pumps
but rather combat boots
to stomp all over the patriarchy.
But I disagree.
young children are dying daily in Syria
Kashmir is bleeding daily
Yemen is crying daily
Panjab is still recovering from the tears of 1947
blood and tears is what is filled the radcliffe line
Lovely Ummi,
I remember the hustle and bustle
Of the crowds, of the people--
Bodies pressed against each other,
Like the Baklava, you made
I stand outside.
Outside of the boundaries you set for me.
Why am I outcasted from this "perfect world".
Yet, if this world is so perfect,
why is anyone outcasted?
I'm tired.
Tired of feeling alone.
Don't pretend to sympathize when we can see the greed in your eyes.
You say one thing, turn around and say another.
All you speak is lies.
A child constantly arguing who is right he's never wrong.
Dear Ferguson,
You should’ve never happened.
To others, you came as a surprise.
To some, you were a consequence.
But to those that dwelled in the cracks of
City sidewalks –
Within the brick and mortar
Dear America
Do you hear your bombs blasting overhead?
Do you hear the little children crying,
Do you see them dead?
O America,
Open your eyes!
See the destruction you have created,
Dear Government, Thank you for protecting usIn times of need,But really, can you describe yourself as marvelous?If that’s your only good deed?Power,You possess itYou grasp it With every fiber of your existenceYou abuse it Twist it and turn it arou
He told me I was “pretty” as he brushed my bangs back.
He told me I should be “his” as he wrapped his arm around me tightly.
Cute, right?
Chained to the sea
oppressed by its waves and torturous tides
to conform or be prepared to die
that's the decision the Little Mermaid must make
there is more than just her life at stake
Boom! Crash! Snap.
"We can't protect the fallen.
We can't relieve the screeching
Even if we try."
Trembling and weak
This is War,
They said as they dropped drones onto villages and killed grandma who was picking vegetables from her garden,
This is War,
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the world had equality?
If we all had choices and freedom?
Now I know what some of you are going to say
Going to preach
Going to cry
We are equal
But I disagree
All around are people, too
Busy to
Care about anything except the moment they are in, too
Distracted to notice that they are not the only ones that
Exist. They do not have the time to see the world
All humans are born free and equal yet it never seems that way,
Hateful words of society corrupt people from day to day
“Dress how you’d like your body is great!”
People like you are dangerous creatures,
hiding behind smiles,
favours,
and preachers.
Fallen from grace,
says you,
just beacause you don't want to feel forgotten too.
America the Great.
America that is mixed like a blender
but judges based on race
and a someone's gender.
America the Great.
Why do you hate me?
Is it the color of my face?
tell me, what
what
what would you do if you could feel?
killin our people
do you see souls behind eyes?
killin our people
it’s been a dark night
you’ve got to breathe
Make America Great Again,
America was Great.
America was Great,
January,
The third friday,
The 20th,
A plethora of people from everywhere have seen it unfortunately, but will they ever feel it, live it, breathe it, or know it? I know I live it and am a nominee, but have not physically endured it - thank God.
Oh say can’t you see Ms. Liberty?
You should be bending down on your knees,
bending over backwards,
Begging Please
Begging that your babies stop being shot in the streets
“America the Beautiful"
Many a times I have heard
But beauty is subjective
Beautiful to thy neighbor
But to me, empty words
“America the Great”
I have heard time and time again
America – home of the brave.
Neigh – home of the majority
Home of the security, the humility, the fidelity
Can anyone see the gravity?
The gravity of the situation at the tips of our fingers
War hungry yet peace seeking.
Assault rifles for protection.
White privilege in a country built on immigrants.
Home of the brave but afraid of innocent Muslims.
We are the Foundation but,
The pigment of our skin determines our fate,
Whether we're worth a second thought before you attack,
Born in 1999,
a Northwest city.
Three sisters and three brothers,
parents with no college degree
and one income.
But what do I know,
of the riots,
police brutality,
Freedom is tangible as glass stars.
While it shimmers and shakes under the sky,
It burns quickly, flickering out as dusk rises.
Beneath the ashes the small ones scream,
Filing into the streets below,
I Am American
I am American, home of the brave and free,
I am American, where dawns early light glints of the handgun cellphone, something in his pocket can't tell what it was BANG BANG BANG
America is pretty great
that I will admit.
Freedom, justice, liberty
We're all entitled to it.
But America is changeable.
We need some help, in fact.
There are many problems we face here.
how can so much hate
come from within
a land known as great?
there is no end to this fight for humanity
to give in is to give away
your sanity.
we are
america the brave
do you see us?
we are here
feet pressed firmly into american soil
and we will not back down
these are my sisters and my brothers
The man in the orange mask does not know my struggles.
He does not know my intentions.
Or my dreams.
But how could he?
For it is a nation that strived on the working class,
Question one.
How did Nazi Germany rise to power?
A) Religion
B) Scapegoating
C) Nationalism
D) All of the above.
Welcome to America!
now turn around and shoo.
Take all these papers
and come back a year or two.
Liberty is in our pledge,
yet still we cage such truth.
We come so close to the edge,
Open up your sleepy eyes
Darling
Wake up from your dream
This isn't paradise
Face reality as it seems
Naperville
I am privileged
I live in Naperville
I never struggled
I have too much food to eat
I have too many clothes to wear
from a wilted whisper
to a unyielding yell
you've forced my hand
i won't back down anymore.
mommy,you told me i was made ofthe galaxyand its brightest stars.then why did grandpa frown upon my sightand make us sit at another table?
There's a group of people, living in silence - in the darkenss
Many are aware of their existence
Many are not
Who am I to shine light on them - shine the truth
It makes me sick to the stomach
High school and college became stressful and I began to doubt myself
We got a new president and as a minority I began to fear the future, itself
From conception,
we spend the next nine months
wrapped in a cocoon
of our mother's protection.
Our cells
come together to form
supporting choice
supporting freedom rights
(but are you ever
horrified?)
choosing girls
fifteen sixteen eighteen
who deserve their high school
college years
Marhbaan, Kazhar 'Akhbar
Breaking news
A Yemen Funeral Raid launched by Saudi Arabia airplanes kills 140 mourners
Why is this a world where people are punished for themselves?
They say God hates gays,
They say God hates trannies,
They say God hates blacks,
They say God hates Asians,
They say God hates us,
If the entire world were molded into one being
It would have its hand extending out into space
Seeking the aid of another world
Man has devastated the planet
Not today.
I’ll do it tomorrow.
Does this sound familiar?
It’s what kids tell their parents. At least, that’s how it was in my household.
Police…
Hope for quiet…
Someone calls in frightened…
Hoping the law will save the day…
Ten-four!
Mother…
Sends son for milk…
Halfway there silence breaks…
Police…
Hope for quiet…
Someone calls in frightened…
Hoping the law will save the day…
Ten-four!
Mother…
Sends son for milk…
Halfway there silence breaks…
We conquered and we conquered
with ideals of manifest destiny
ringing in our ears
thoughts of salvation
we brought with ourselves
only to leave behind
cries of devastation and fear,
A poem inspired by the militarization of the border as well as the Chicano Movement.
Las hierlas
Sometimes,
I wake up in the middle of the night
breathless.
My lungs seem to convulse,
and each inhalation of air seems not to be
enough for each exhalation too quickly
follows.
Freedom to choose
Freedom to lose
It is a thing we all hold dear
It movs up in tiers
Not important in our adolescence but everything in our adulthood
But what if it could
Be stripped away?
The color of one’s skin
Is not where they begin
There should be no racism
We’re all human
A gender is a gender
My identity is being erased
Slowly dissolved until all that’s left,
Is social debate and controversy
I am dismantled, disfigured, disgraced
You stomp on my dignity
And make jokes of my body
Most might say joy, love, hope, and sleep,
However, I prefer the beauty of silence,
With its daunting tones,
And comfort it brings when I weep,
The dramatic scene fostered by the cut of sirens.
Human Rights
These are rights that are endowed to every human, rights that make us all equals.
I cannot live without human rights, taking away these rights takes away my humanity.
A vote is the 19th amendment
It is the shield for my mother, my sister, and my aunt
It is the yellow stars that fall upon me
It is the bruises that have been formed
The blood that has been lost
I discovered suffering
at 18. Not my own
suffering, but rather the
kind of suffering that happens
when people let bad things happen
and do nothing.
Before that I was just
My thoughts are not limited to my own mind.
They are exponential
exceeding the parameters of a tangent.
But I want them to be organised
which is why I focus on brain management.
My own mind wants to unwind
"Liberty and Justice for All",
or so they say.
These words seldom ring truthfully
Every time
I try to love my nation
Another black teenager shot dead in the street,
The Corporate Noose.
Yes, the Corporate Noose!
The ensemble of tightly stitched fabric which hangs from the front of the neck then hangs loose.
Most commonly worn in the workplace and one by every race.
Who am I but a figment of my own imagination?
A lie.
An idea I’ve used to claim the land of four nations.
Who am I?
Sometimes I wonder
What would it be like
If the world were different
Sometimes I wonder
How many people
Are killed and hurt
Sometimes I wonder
What would it take
I squeal in the silence of my bedroom
When I am excited
Because I am just me
I sing out loud
While my headphones are on
Because I am just me
I listen to myself talk
I pledge allegiance
To the flag
I remember the day
My best friend said
“I think I might be gay”
World packed with cruel hate.
It’s written in their fate.
What can the people do?
The worst part—the revulsion isn’t new.
Biting the bullet and yearning for peace my only sanity escapes me.
Death is near, I've lost all fear... the bells continue to ring.
Have you ever had a secret in which you've held awhile;
You see in the eyes of others that you're perceived odd or even vile;
For you being different does not make you gross;
We are groups of people
made to hate
because of who we love
not what we stand for.
Did no one listen to
your parents?
You treat others how you want to be treated
not
Where you supposed to go when your home aint even home
happiness is in the gutters
have to close up all those shutters
see these people here dont love us
so all we got is each other
filling out papers
two options in front of me
male
female
i am forced to mark the latter
because even two years later
the whole conversation
meant absolutely nothing to you
People get so creative these days. All we ever hear when a new, un usual thing comes up now is "well, thats how it is now days."
Sick they say! Sick!
Am I sick?
so disturbing to some
so interesting
Could this be true
The words flowing from your lips
Such hurt you scream
Such pain you cause me
Love can't be forced fore it is a force in itself
Tell me to love her when I'm in love with him
Love is funny. Love is weird. Love is knowing. Love is guiding. And to those whom it passes, it is unintentionally hurting.
We are the youth and we should know
we want things to be more than now.
A knowledge sleeps in the cracks of our knuckles
and the straightness of our backs
not just
that things must change,
nobody left, and nobody died,
but the family count went from six to five.
a daughter abandoned, shunned, alone,
because another girl's heart was the place she called home.
innocent little girl
oh how your innocence has been taken
stolen from you like a thief in the night
a thief with so much power
a thief with so much aggression and anger
There was a little boy. It was his first day of school. He was very cute and attractive, with a chubby little face and a slim body. He had a walk that was more of a waddle but he was still extremely coordinated and never fell.
I live in the urban area of kansas city which most people know it as a place of poverty not realizing that sure we might suffer from hunger but to be more exact we suffer for eduction.
Here I speak before you today in regrettable silence,
For we have become a generation to be disgraced, for not only our actions but our power.
I have been affected.
I have been touched.
I have been dissected.
I have been hushed.
I have been affected
By the death of those I love.
I have been affected by the death you rain from above.
A young women traveling round about
Some called her lost, some a free spirit
She never danced to the beat of another’s drum
Many trials and failures, successes and triumphs
Facing it all with weightless defiance
If I could play god for just one dayTo change any one thingTo make this world a better placeThen I would make it impossible for one human being to enslave anotherAnd thus abolish human trafficking for good forever
Mi Cuba
An island paradise
Crystal clear waters
Bright beaches
Swinging palm trees
Nature from all over
Mi Cuba
A communistic island
Equality for everyone
Changing
More than your clothes
More than your appearance
Start with yourself, and look deeply
Inside
Leading
More than yourself
More than what's expected
If i had one change to change the world what I wouldn't give to have that chance
I would end world hunger in that way saving more lives
when i was little i wrote even though my hands could barely reach over the
keyboard without stumbling and tripping on each other, each word; each of
If I could change one thing?
The World.
Every boy. Every girl would have
clothes
food
love and shoes
they'd have the right to be free
happy
Welcome to our society where people will judge you on the smallest things and not care.
They laugh and play
and run around and say "That's retarded,"
overheard by the mother at the grocery store who wanted nothing more
than the best for her son who was born with his disability.
Ableism,
As I wash my hands the cheerleaders change into their new uniforms
they don't know that I am washing my ring which takes more time than my hands
they snicker and call me queer
I'm not a blank canvas for the artist to devourNature versus nurture, the hot debate of the hourLGBT, a community met with a staggering glowerThe humans represented have been robbed of all their power
My eyes have been wide openSince as long as I can remember."Love" was a word, an action, an emotionThat was second nature to me.
How can you look at me and say
that I,
snow that comes on a Christmas Eve, sweeping with the wind's influence,
have more power, more beauty, more right to be on this earth
Not all things are as easy as they seem,
A country of love, home of the brave, land of the free,
But that's not entirely true, in fact it's a good bit false,
We claim to love each other but it's not the right cause,
So, my skin isn't too light. Some might even say it's not right, just wrong. My hair isn't long by the beauty-man's standards. It lacks in flat and lifelessness. It's curly and wild, not wispy and slight. My eyes shaded with shadows and brown.
We as a nation fail to realize what's what when it comes to politics. When something goes wrong we're quick to blame our president. If someone kills someone pf a different race, they're racist or a terrorist.
We are all just human beings made of flesh, skin and bone. With hearts that love, hate, dream and beat to the rhythm of our own drum. With minds that think, contemplate, plan and create. Why do we write, read, breathe or speak?
break out
Of bounds; set the standards around
What others cannot
Trouble inbound; bein followed
Back to the roots, the home,
the starting point
disjointed from the hip
Welcome to the hospital.
Where they strip you of your human rightsLike liberty and lawful due processYour right to choose, and live, and think,Then say you have Delusions of Persecution.
Her lungs seek fervently to find a breath of stuffy air,
Her heart looks in desperation for courage to hope,
Her mind searches hopelessly to find the end.
I have rotted in the ground
Beaten by the howler’s hounds
Galvanized another bound
And, I escaped it
Hello Mommy, I'm here waiting.
You found me yesterday; this is exciting.
You don't know me yet, but I know you.
I can feel your love so strong and true.
(poems go here) The wind it sits, highly enthroned,
Its voice a commanding power,
Pulling over trees into prostrate positions, mocking humility.
The wind, when edged voice speaks,
Stridently spoken, bold-hemmed terms,
If I was straight I wouldn’t be writing this damn thing
If I was straight I wouldn’t need to hide my basic humans needs
If I was straight would you still dehumanize me?
Take away my rights and claim there “not meant to be”
Like the earth beneath a popular tree, life is shaded.
The existence of knowledge stands firm and strong,
yet, some and many cease to acknowledge the light peeking through its leaves.
sometimes i look at historythrough a microscopeand i feel so stingingly,gut-splicingly ashamedfor what happenedfor what is happeningfor what will happen
A thirty-mile thick crystalline wall
Shrouding all sight like a bride’s lacy shawl
We chisel and chip at its translucent sides
Revealing, bit-by-bit, it slowly confides
The secret of perpetual motion
This is me, this is who I am. This is my life, this is my business. I respect you, and I respect your choices.
Respect mine.
Now you lay me down to sleep
The soul God prayed for you to keep.
Sentenced to die before I awake,
My life ended, because of one mistake.
Years ago a flame was lit,
a world divided, all people split.
Moves were made by those daring few,
some from bus seats, some from a pew.
A line that divided was intentionally crossed,
Humans
Our rights have come slowly
Truman with equality
Brown vs. Board mixing races
Things are changing for humans
Emmett Till beaten and shot
Accusers walk and talk
How does this happen to humans
When dreams long since are spent
and broken-
when a weary people can no longer
wait-
they will rise up, rise
from raisins and sores and rotten meat,
and they will speak.
Words, just words a man speaks,
but they cradle me in wonder.
Maybe if I wait a little longer
and I march a little stronger
They're quiet and calm, blending into the waves of the ocean shore.
Shells hard and tough like stone.
Not intimidating or threatening, just there.
There living and roaming.
There to make the sand its friend and
Taken from familiarity
All comforts stripped away
Just like her soul
Exposed to all, disrobed
In the most unceremonious
Of ways
I climbed up the mountain,
the day was blue.
Sprinkled in gold and burned with truth.
The sun shone as I reached my goal.
The peak loomed, then welcomed and called me home.
