Poems Rethabile Likes

Pantoum for Black Boys by Taylor Byas --> Pantoum for Black Boys after 'African Night Market' by Walter Battiss (1965) As the sky’s colors separate like oil in water, black men turn blue in the sunset. Flies hover over the tables, circle like buzzards; fruit left for dead. Black men turn blue in the sunset like cotton dipped in indigo. Police circle like buzzards, fruit left for dead – a red smudge on a white sheet. Like cotton dipped in indigo, police lights spotlight the streets; a red smudge on a white sheet marks the end of childhoods. Lights spotlight the streets, but the dark squares of sidewalk mark the end of childhoods, and the mothers have nothing but the dark squares of sidewalk to blame. We light candles, we pray, and the mothers have nothing but an empty room to fill, to lock away, to blame. We light candl...

The Tradition by Jericho Brown The Tradition Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. We thought Fingers in dirt were moving. We thought Up names for flowers and what for weeds. We pushed North. We planted seeds. We forgot how we died. That year we had Enough rain for the gardens. We had Plenty to eat. The flowers we had Hung their heads like girls in church. We forgot who we were. We had The sun on our backs. We had The names for things. The names for things. The flowers we had were not the names For flowers. We had the things. We had The soil. We had the light. We had The air. We had the tradition. Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. John Crawford. Eric Garner. Mike Brown. Poet: Jericho Brown Source: @PoetryFoundation Books: @AbeBooks

Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden | Poems Rethabile Likes “Frederick Douglass,” by Robert Hayden Shawntay Henry reads the poem 'Frederick Douglass' by Robert Hayden . Read along