activism
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There is no revolution but
The inner revolution of
The deeper revolution of
The utter revolution of
The soul.
And I am only free when I
Can feel that I am free to truly
Know that I AM FREE
Little do they know,
As they march along the streets, bearing flags upon their shoulders—
As they raise their banners high with faces strong and filled with purpose—
On the edge of a parapet
stands a young person
with nothing but
wings made of wax
and the boldness
to jump.
We were told as children
that the myth
always ends in tragedy.
Crack, boom, pop
The news ricochets around the room like a bullet
It explodes in our ears
Crack, boom, pop
Right near the playground
The report says
"Support my rights" you say,
"I do, but I want to live another day."
The fear and panic has begun
It's not a drill, our time is done.
Silence. Tears. Texts and calls.
Some will live and some will fall.
"Support my rights" you say,
"I do, but I want to live another day."
The fear and panic has begun
It's not a drill, our time is done.
Silence. Tears. Texts and calls.
Some will live and some will fall.
When I got on my knees for church
And asked who am I doing this for?
When I watched a man die on the street
And wondered why anyone need be poor?
When I heard students cry out for peers shot dead
Silence is the real menace
Cause it will weaponize our fear
And one day turn back around
To when my friends were all here
Billy went to fight in the war
And didn’t return the same
We fight to bring hope
to the hopeless…
To the voices who have refused to work
out of fear of being hurt
for an idea…
Our words are our greatest weapon
What kind of a world do we live in
Where children who are just learning
How to read
How to write
Are gunned down in their classrooms
Co-written by my friend and trusted poet, Annabella 'Anni' Gonzalez
Democracy and Democrats, I thought they coexisted
I grew up hating communism, and yet I still do
my mother says that I came into this world Fightingfists clenched, two months too earlyborn beneath a clouded november skyon the verge ofSomething.
I am an activist because women have no say, because kids think abuse is normal, because suicide is a game; a twisted version of a competition where killing yourself is a form of entertainment.
Undocumented aliens,
Racists see them as the enemies
They’re trying to make a living for themselves,
Not to mention for their families.
Getting deported by I.C.E
So hard to comprehend
A ban on one
is a ban on all
for the blood that’s let
the oxygen inhaled
the emotion felt
the heart that beats
they are universally one
and adhere to
no borders or boundaries
This piece is a comment on gun violence in America, an issue I am incredibly passionate about. I participated in the March for Our Lives in my city and have been a vocal part of my community on this issue.
Nature is the biggest inspiration we all have
And we destroy more of it every chance we get
We exert the same lack of respect and love onto this land
All these issues in the world, don’t sugar coat it. I know you that you know this:
slavery was supposedly protected by the bible, I hope we grow from this! Separating families is legal only because of POTUS.
"we're going to write poems"
my heart dropped to the floor.
"we're going to write poems"
my brain croaked with lifelessness.
"we're going to write poems"
and i pursued an escape.
Poetry has taught me
That even without conversation
There are still ways
To inspire ideas
To express emotion
To connect comrades
Even without conversation
One can always use their voice
Through the trials and tribulations,
the shouts and the screams,
I will fight for what I believe,
because you can’t silence these dreams.
Like Ms. Angelou I will rise,
through these riots and protests,
The words run into a wall
blocking my throat
clogging it
(am I breathing right?)
My hands twitch
the words overflowing
filling my skin
ink
between my fingers
i blind those that blaspheme my
omnipresent and invisible nature.
to my shoving nudges
you deny and you tear
and shield your eyes from
Don’t tell me I’m not gay.
The “phases” are phrases you like to throw out
When you’re angry face goes to the riots to shout.
How dare you call me out on a “fault”
Like there’s somebody I am going to assault.
Toes curl below ragged skirts,
her eager eyes lit with meager heat,
a single match.
Visions of food, of shelter, of home
all she wants
diners devour meat
girl devours sight
There is a spray tan in the oval office.
I don’t want to hear from the Tangerine Man about his wall.
The word ‘them’ has a greater capacity to separate people than any wall.
I pledge allegiance to the Racism of the United States of America,
and to the Rich, White, and Wealthy for which it stands,
one Nation under a Christian God,
divisible,
Do not tell me I did not love this place
The home in which I live
These things that I've done in its name
Are not yours to forgive
For weren't we just children
Who loved a place too much
White hoods
Confederate flags
Burning crosses
Callin’ us “fags”
Vicious and violent
Even if they can’t reach us.
But we don’t stand a chance
If those who could help don’t show up,
January 20th, 2017, a man who fought the oppressed captured the nation
A man who said the gays should be prayed away to appease creation
A man who is bribed to poison the air of our nation
Imagine free-falling from the mountainside to the earth.
Watch the trees die and woods stand still in mourning.
Can you feel that,
the tell-tale heart pitter-pattering with adrenaline?
Or is it nerves,
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
Question one.
How did Nazi Germany rise to power?
A) Religion
B) Scapegoating
C) Nationalism
D) All of the above.
These days children are crying
Old people are dying
The privileged are whining
"Why can't everyone have MediCare!"
"That's so not fair!"
I
Hi there! Please go away now!
You don’t belong here!
You don’t look like us,
You don't sound like us, and
You don’t do things like us!
Our skin is not as white as snow
Does this make us worthless?
A lot of us grew up in single parent homes
Does this make us inadequate?
We commit the same crimes
But why do we only get the life sentences?
As I grow and learn and mature
in a world
where all number of things
(but especially people)
are sorted and labeled,
shoved into boxes like leftovers
into too-small containers,
I am an activist
An advocate for those who don't have as good of a life as I do
I acknowledge my privelege
I am white, I am not oppressed
I am a feminist
Intersectionalism is most important
I am crumpled.
I am tumbling
through a busy street-
not lifted by this wind
but dragged.
I am breathing.
I am lucky
the paper bag is about
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?
Uncomfortable in that chairbut still no one seems to careI'm out here full of fearI'm bout ready to tearI know the truth is out therebut I just don't where
Stuck in the same routine, change only when I come clean,mean what I say everyday, it's the only path to a brighter way,light comes throught from within, grin with relief from forgiven sin,
As the government cleans itself, it sees what is outside itself as more dirty.
Hey! This is a poem that I wrote describing the unfair economic system in America and how I feel being a woman of color in the USA and the daughter of refugees.
This is it.
This world,
This life,
It’s all we have--
It’s our past,
It's our present,
It's our future, too.
We have everything to lose.
This is why I move.
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,
Exploded from nothing, just children of the stars
All of a sudden, these little starts started to bloom.
Little did we know, that we were our own doom.
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.
It’s me.
I’m here.
I want to change the world.
That’s hard,
I know,
but it’s what I want to do.
Being an activist is my dream,
making sure we all have
our full human rights.
iam not bigand iam slow to speechi spend my nights aloneforging plans for better daysbecause i am a wallflower.wallflowers are unassumingagents of change.
When I was five years old,I heard that boys stood when they peed.Angry and jealous,I dragged my princess panties down to my ankles,Held my skirt above my belly button,
I could write 'love' on my arms
or mark X's on my hands,
but beyond this social expression,
how am I to distinguish between
awareness and self-indulgence?
People dedicating themselves wholly to an ideal
Accepting a way of life that is almost surreal
Submitting their transient needs for something greater
Solving problems on coffee, feeling like a martyr
If everyone read National Geographic
There would not be as many things to report about
in National Geographic
If young girls were surrounded by images of beauty and strength
While living in a refugee community for fourteen years, I saw many issues that needed to be fixed to make a better world. Many students weren't even allowed to be at school, and many those allowed, didn’t want to go to school.
Would you rather be in love OR would you rather be alone and heartbroken forever?
Would you rather learn and make your future successful OR would you rather have no future?
Breathe sound, breathe calm
Take long breathes, give long hugs
Dance in the rain, let it take the pain away
Breathe soft, breathe proud
Speak out loud
Cry, sleep, dream and repeat
I write because I’m a bird underwater
my feathers yearning for the day they become gills
my wings learning to swim
since the day that I learned the human race kills
and then rebuilds their cities with the bodies
I write because I have a story to tell. A story of hurt, pain, and depression. I write to relieve pain. To try to foget the past. I write to spill the secrets of the past. I write to tell others that it will be okay.
So I was browsing the Internet the other day.
I discovered a site that will be the perfect outlet for my pent up teen angst.
Welcome to Tumblr.
Where everyone is so loving an accepting.
Life really is what you make it.
You can either be sad about a sad situation, or you can think about the positive.
I don’t know where I’m going, but how I get there’s up to me
I give myself extra time for things I need to complete
I still search for my four-leaf clover in a field of threes
(poems go here)Blinded by the light, wondering what brings the speeding thoughts rushing through my mind.
Sorting through the piles of emotions, memories, and present feelings to find an understanding of who I am.
I can’t help but think way back, when things were laid back
And people weren’t looking for payback
I can honestly say that I miss that
Back when you can wear what you want, with out having to worry
Spectators
As the saying goes, in the city of the blind
The one eyed man is king
Well in the town of the mute, glorious is he who sings
And when the majority is deaf, he who listens is left,
(poems go here)Let this be a token, I leave the mic smoking
One with the track yeah the word is spoken
The city leaves you broken eyes get swollen
You just want to cry till your whole body soaking
Of the darkness
emerging from
our souls, beyond
threshold of
the black mire
falling
headfirst
into the pits
dying, our souls
I’m about to give up, give in
Hating, passivity
It’s original sin
Blood runs through our veins
We forget we’re kin
Where to begin? Where to begin?
