Poetry 1

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who told us we are

Black

And we should be proud

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who spoke loud against

Slavery

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who urged us to show

Bravery

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who reminded us we

Are a great race

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who told us to face

The race of life with self-confidence

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who told us we can live

A decent life if we are independent

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who told us to have dignity

And pride

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who didn't hide his love

For his black people

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who guided us to think

Wide

Who was Marcus Garvey?

The one who was the messenger

The teacher and the great philosopher.

Of stride and has fallen prey to inadequate guises

Slowing, stripping me from within

Floating away with it

On ruined branches

My eyes match its drifting existence in a hapless daze

There is an emptiness in my soul's cage

For its prize has vanished

Stripped and embarrassed

From these facades assimilated

To cope

These weird characters conjured just to survive

The coping man hangs by his toe

And hopes for release, but just

Sits there, mum for the ride

So I cope with my limitations

In a way

That has become harder to bear with each stormy sunset

That forges a wink of hope

But hope fades with no sense of self

And I am now an empty vessel for the taking

Wobbling inside, with no eyes for beauty, no ears for happiness nor mouth for love

Instead

A mutated being, one of the just coping fiends

Scraping and coping in this realm of normalcy

Coping with everyone else's coping character endlessly

I've become strange to myself

From within

My face the same, but a stranger has taken my voice

My will

My name

I must pray then

I must pray for I have lost my true self

Pray for the strength to fight for it

And to rid my soul of these corrupt coping habits

Because coping habits stick

Embedded deep, deep in my crevices

For years of it

Festering and my surviving

Have formed a shady character of suspect

So if I am on the journey of hope let not my failing be

My coping habits

But let me prosper

And be it my character as gorgeous as a stormy sunset.

- Ava Mantra

________________________

Switched identity

You were stubborn at first

trying to keep yourself away from me

I felt as if I was being punished

for something wrong that I never did

Finally you gave in

finally you gave up

what was yours for years

in a hurried second was mine

And my yearly possession

was now placed in your soft hands

You were held close to me

which made room for synchronisation

in every motion, a glance at you

every hour reminded me of

each day we spent together

Without the idea of what I was to you

I knew for sure

that you were my Earthly star

I carried you for a day

You carried me far away

Separated by a huge hospital

joined together by an average bus

Was hoping to see you

from our beginning to the end

but like a shot from a taser

I was struck

with just an ID switch.

- Daron Smith
___________________________________

Uncertainty

Is there a reason for my existence

Or am I just putting up a resistance?

They say that greatness lies within us

But what lies ahead of us?

That which cannot be seen

We envision the things we want to be

But life's unexpected events

Overthrow that sense

Or is it just me?

Giving up seems the easiest

No more pain, no more stress

It would all be less

But what if this is just a test

To see who's the best?

Overcome life's struggles

And make the best of our troubles.

- Theresa Peters