Poetry (6)

My closet

Just the thought of her makes me shiver

and to hear her voice makes me quiver

She breaks my defence just by staring at me

and degrades everything that has made me

She works me like a slave whether night or day

Without considering reward or pay

I can't have freedom of enjoyment or speech

and if I speak my mind, to her, it's a breach

I never walk to school with my head held high

because I don't want you to seethe tears

in swollen eyes

Never revealing a permanent frown on my face

nor the constant tears that remain undried

My friends never seem to understand

Why the taste of my life is always bland

But there's a place in the prison that I call home

That's dark enough to hide in even though it's cold

My closet is the only place I feel safe

and it's the only thing that can see my face

Living under the roof of my oppressor

is like a recipe for headaches and pressure!

But my closet is the only place for me

and there is where I release my dreams.

- Shanese Whyte (Bridgeport High School)
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Destiny

From the moment of birth

Till you return to dirt

We seek to fulfil

A purpose, a will

Criticisms face us

Even when we're benevelous

Working hard every second

The world agrees, I reckon

Speedily, hastily

We stay strong truly

It is better to be fruitful

Moreso, when you're youthful

We each have a drive

Our destiny keeps us alive.

- Sylvester O'Gilvie
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That I, a better person may be

Light that lies deep inside of me

Come forth in all thy majesty

Show me thy gaze

Teach me thy ways

That I, a better person may be

Darkness that lies deep inside of me

Come forth in all thy mystery

Show me thy gaze

Teach me thy ways

That I, a better person may be

Love that lies deep inside of me Come forth in all thy unity

Let me be thy gaze

Let me teach thy ways

That I, a better person may be.

- Kellion Henry
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The beast in the lamb

Silently we guarded and enshrouded

the seeds which kept poisoning the land

seedlings we have watered

and the seeds they did increase

Blood-stained togs we have scrubbed

while our mothers and babes

wrenched with grief

when they have had

robbed from them

their masters of release

Voices echoed from the graves

of the perished ones

as the nation ached for their beloved

Sadly, mothers, fathers and babes

all one and the same

none was exempt

Certainly, in this, there can be no gain

Broken promises and lies foretold

when truth and honesty

could they no longer behold

But these wounds can only be nursed

when the land slaughters the beast

in self and nurtures the lamb in its bosom

It is only then

that the barren land will heal

and yield fruits of gold

renewed moral values and integrity

that can then be bold!

- Collette Anderson-Williams