…foundational
no structure can exist without it,
and no tree can stand if its truth has not taken root.
Truth is not held captive to the dogma of religion….
held bondage within the framework of theology….
it is not trapped inside the walls of College classrooms,
oppressed by the lips of Baptist ministers,
and does not sing the hymn of Islamic melodies……
it is neither canonized nor done away with….
neither stolen away nor traded amidst the bowels of slave ships…..
truth is not lynched,
nor shackled against the cages of fear….
it refuses to shake hands with deception,
and will never embrace the arms of uncertainty
because truth is always certain.
It is sure to be like nothing you can ever imagine
but be everything you’ve ever hoped for….
it is accepted by the faithful….
and resisted by those who are afraid.
Tag: poems
Black Beauty
**A little History on this Poem**
This is a 12 year old poem. It has since been revised but this is the original copy that I wrote back when I was a sophomore in High School. It was entered into a contest and it won. I was then to fly to Rio Nevada for the award ceremony but I could not afford to go. I have since performed it many times throughout my High School career at assemblies and talent shows. For me it was my first poem. It was the first poem I wrote that really spoke about something deeper than my personal adolescent issues and reached beyond the childhood perspective I was used to writing about. It was also my first Spoken Word poem, the first poem I ever shared while standing before an Audience. Today I would like to share it with you. (Keep in mind I was only like 15 when I wrote this so bear with me lol):
BEAUTY
Wake up Black beauty!
Look up black beauty!
And see the mountain range
Stand up Black beauty, know your name
Be the Sun that shines,
I clothe in your sweetness, I see in your eyes
I notice your strength and weaknesses that lies
Time has gone and we have grown,
into these skies of disguise
we are Earth’s insects, its flies.
Walking this ground with our black feet,
sitting at tables eating our black meat,
it is beauty we see.
Working our black railroads
While listening to stories retold
Watching as oceans and seas travel for miles and miles without smirks or smiles,
licking greedy lips,
waiting for boats and ships to please its hips
we are the ground walked upon
We sing and cook with soul offering any hungry person a bowl
We realize the importance of education
that we had before civilization
that we had before coming into the truth of our very own nation.
A nation of many different colors and sizes,
all of various secrets and surprises
We are the proud combination of dark skins,
from small twos to plus sized tens,
we are ALL beautiful.
Poetry like Jazz
“Poetry, like jazz, is one of those dazzling diamonds of creative industry that help human beings make sense out of the comedies and tragedies that contextualize our lives.” – Aberjhani
Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Rainer Maria Rilke
Smile, it’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday :). Don’t be shy, Join us:
http://silverthreading.com/2015/01/21/writers-quote-wednesdaypoet-victor-hugo-2015-4/
This week, I quote Rainer Maria Rilke:
There are two books I always carry with me: 1). The Bible and 2). Letters to a Young Poet. Don’t laugh, but I thought Rainer Maria Rilke was a woman before I saw his picture! It was Sister Act 2 when I first heard his name, so I looked into it to see if Sister Mary Clarence really knew what she was talking about. Here’s my diagnostic of this quote.
Primarily, Letters to a Young Poet has some of the most inspiring quotes concerning life and love. There is such profound truth here. We tend to go through life expecting to be given the answers to every question in the momentary whim to which we seek them. It never occurs to us that we are not in a position to handle the answer to that question. But if we focus on living, and we live, we will stumble upon the answer at a time when we are wiser and more mature. We will understand it then, though we may not understand it now.
This book itself began as letters Rainer wrote to a young man who was interested in the art of poetry. These letters have been combined into what can be easily mistaken as a book of poetry itself, as it reads.
About the Author: (from Wikipedia)
“René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926) — better known as Rainer Maria Rilke) — was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. Several critics have described Rilke’s work as inherently “mystical”. His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry, and several volumes of correspondence in which he invokes haunting images that focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety. These deeply existential themes tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist writers.”
Guest Feature – The Prophet
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips
– The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Love me not Hypocritically
Do not share my joy when I’m whole
And not have compassion on these holes
Cuz
I’ve seen some wars and I admit
Some of these memories are like scenic routes to civil wars
Some of these
Bruises are footsteps soldiers left on my self-esteem
Some of these
Birthmarks led to scripture
You see
Some of these injuries are walking Deuteronomy’s
do not love me
Hypocritically
Do not praise my sunshine without offering me shelter when it rains
Cause trust
I’ve been left out in the cold
That
Forming crease in your face, yea I’ve seen it before
Do not
Love my sun rays just cause you aint seen my floods
Do not accept my heart until you know that there are earthquakes
that left its cracks in my skin
Till you can understand that
Tornadoes left destruction lying desolate in my memories
Do not weep for me
Hypocritically
If you can’t share my joy
And my pain too
Do not praise my strength
then abandon me in those moments I aint too strong
Don’t mutter my lyrics and throw rocks at my song
Do not love me whole
Without having compassion on these holes
Unconditionally
Do not love me
Hypocritically ……
Guest Feature-We Love Like the Sun Rise
We kiss like the night
But we love like a sun rise
We love
like were far out there
Like
halos and moon rocks, and cosmos and jelly fish
We love
Like gravity
We love like autumn
the season where everything learns how to fall and we do
Fall
In love that night
You know, one day I’ll understand the earthquake crack from your pulse
I am the rhythm to any love song that made you want to exist.
So when the sun rises–anxious as it always is—
begins to yawn over the cusps of day
I will be here
may the wind lay us back onto our bed spreads where we can hold,
where we can touch,
where we can love
like the sun rise…
– Brook Yung, (excerpt)
The PBS Blog 