This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.
– Walt WhitmanOne Day by Matisyahu
sometimes I lay
under the moon
and thank God I’m breathing
then I pray
don’t take me soon
cause I am here for a reason
sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it’ll all turn around
because
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
they’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day
it’s not about
win or lose
we all lose
when they feed on the souls of the innocent
blood drenched pavement
keep on moving though the waters stay raging
in this maze you can lose your way (your way)
it might drive you crazy but don’t let it faze you no way (no way)
sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it’ll all turn around
because
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
they’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day
one day this all will change
treat people the same
stop with the violence
down with the hate
one day we’ll all be free
and proud to be
under the same sun
singing songs of freedom like
one day
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
they’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day
Us by Brother Ali
I started rhyming just to be somebody
to make people notice me at the party
And not just be the new kid that's albino
Make em say yeah I know but have you heard him rhyme though
Now take that same party around the globe
And my stories connected with a lot of folks
I hope so cause that's the only thing I know
I know it so well I tell it with my eyes closed
And I go with the feeling from the start
blind in the eye so I see you with my heart
and to me all ya'll look exactly the same
Fear faith compassion and pain
And try as we may to mask it remains
such as your religion or your past and your race
The same color blood just pass through our veins
and tears taste the same when they're splashing your face
The worlds getting too small to stand in one place
It's like we're roommates just sharing a space
Can't separate and still carry the weight
gotta heal get away from the fear and the hate
gotta shake free from the chains
you see what remains
just a human being end of the day
don't matter to me what name you gave your spiritual plane
Close your eyes and you'll see what I'm saying
I started rhyming just to be somebody
Found out that I already was
Cause can't nobody be free unless we're all free
there's no me and no you its just us
Street preacher is what a fan once called me
I been called worse and tried to live up
hope you don't mind a few more stories
I swear to god yall I tell em with love
Poem for South African Women by June Jordan
Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousands
by the tens of thousands pound the fallow land
into new dust that
rising like a marvelous pollen will be
fertile
even as the first woman whispering
imagination to the trees around her made
for righteous fruit
from such deliberate defense of life
as no other still
will claim inferior to any other safety
in the world
The whispers too they
intimate to the inmost ear of every spirit
now aroused they
carousing in ferocious affirmation
of all peaceable and loving amplitude
sound a certainly unbounded heat
from a baptismal smoke where yes
there will be fire
And the babies cease alarm as mothers
raising arms
and heart high as the stars so far unseen
nevertheless hurl into the universe
a moving force
irreversible as light years
traveling to the open eye
And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea:
we are the ones we have been waiting for.
I just do it. My advice is just do it and do it for free. There will be a time when you’ll be paid in some way. Do it with no strings attached. Do it because you love it.
– Patricia Wright
Reality by Jay-Jay Davis, 13
Can someone please say AMEN
Stand up and understand
We need a HERO to guide and hold our hand…
The Nation of my generation is unhealthy
And the choices we make lead us to destruction
It wasn’t that we were taught wrong, brought up wrong or shown wrong
And never wanted to do right
I think our parents should make verbal contact rather than physical ones
Because mental contact is more powerful than anyone’s
Words or physical abuse and the misuse of all profanity…
And I would hate to see my generation die of not being able to
eat the Word “Opportunity”
Like an African child falling
To their feet…
Can my HERO please take away my generation’s confusion?
Can my HERO please put my generation in an illusion?
Trick us or even just heal us from the feel of fitting in
Cause at the end of the day life doesn’t want to be your friend
And the streets don’t want the best for you
And the rap songs just want to brainwash you
And the sexual experiences just want you to lose value
So can my HERO please save this generation?
‘Cause it’s going to take more than Obama
To rearrange our situation
From Englewood, California to the Bronx, New York
Back up to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and all the way
To the South side of Atlanta, Georgia and
Back down to Houston, Texas
Stretching banging ways to the tip of Tampa Bay, Florida are gangs
Takin’ over my generation
Tears, Bullets, Drugs, Weapons and Survival on my mind
Daddy wasn’t there this time
Therefore it’s okay to turn to the streets and say everything is fine
To put that lil’ boy in a grave
Walking down the street when his intentions weren’t bad
But now his family has to be sad
My hand signs are throwing up blood and crip
And I’m ‘Gangster’ walking to Snoop Dog’s hit
And I’m a rival to the other side because of the color I wear
And the bandana around my head cost a dollar 27 cents
However, my life is still worth a 9mm, a casket
Knocking on Hell’s doors and the thought of being RESPECTED
But in reality your life is REJECTED
You’re in the ground going to nought all because a gang fight
Went wrong and got you shot
I’m on my knees praying to the temple
That GOD please knock down the devil
And send a HERO to the several
All these young girls shaking their rear ends at parties and knocking boots on YouTube
All because they think it will put their boyfriends in a better mood
But baby girl do what you do and be proud
Because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how he sees you
What matters is that you can be a strong lady and be you
And don’t give it up because you listened to the “Whisper” song
And don’t wear skintight clothes because Lil Wayne said he likes a thick red bone
And Plies said he gon’ put it on
Lil’ girl you got the choice so be strong
See the problem we have today is that we always try to sugarcoat our ways!
We get offended over what elders say
And try to define everything with a specific meaning
Our outlook on this world is past comprehending
And we need to stop covering everything thing up with an Opera
Instrumental sympathy
Without a HERO this generation will have an alternate ending
And the habitual actions will keep this world in trouble
So please HERO heal double
HERO I call out that you will destroy the drug use
And exterminate the thug use
And motivate the school use
And stop my generation from a self-defeating abuse
The thought of blazing up, smoking and getting tore’ up
is on this generation’s mind
But Homie you got the power this time…around
So stand up and stump that cancer killin’ stick to the ground!
And don’t use the lighter to flame up your addiction
Use the lighter to flame your position
Stop selling and increasing the drug problem in your generation
Decrease the stealing of their parents’ medications…
You could be a fail out, jailbird, or just another high school dropout
But you got the value so treat yourself like you’re true
And don’t let your peers turn you into an addict
You got to be the one to say ENOUGH, I DONE HAD IT!!!
‘Cause life works magic
And you need all the breaths you can get to run life’s race
And doing drugs and alcohol will only terminate your pace
So I’m gonna put my feelings in the trash and smoke this poetry up like ash
Someone give my HERO some boxing gloves to knock out the streets, self-defeating
TV’s words and rappers slurs
Our generation needs an intervention
My mind is like a whistle and its sound waves trigger everything
Like a pistol and beats
My heart like a drummer playing their bass
The problem that my generation has
Is that we can’t come face to face with the truth
But I don’t need proof to cater to
All I need is YOU!
So will you be the HERO?
And help or will you destruct the world’s self?
Can someone please say AMEN
Stand up and understand
We need a HERO to guide and hold our hand
