Anyone here write poetry? Revival

CORE
Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:48:17 +0000

My papa always told me
this was the land of the free.
red, white, and blue
peace and freedom for both you and me
he said,
be what you wanna be for nothing can stop you
this is the wonderful land of the
free.

I smile and know what I wanna to be,
the president or an astronaut are what I aspire to be.

I go to kindergarten in the land of the free
Painstakingly scrawling a portrait of Jimmy and me.
Red is his cap
White is his face
And in blue I color my handsome, black face
All my buddies admire this picture I drew
I love this wonderful land of the free.

I progress up and up
And have hard textbooks to read
Hundreds of well-worn, smudged pages
Waiting for me to see
Of slavery, Civil War and Abe Lincoln.
But it’s torn and all ruined for all to see and I’m afraid
To show Jimmy who has a crisp new one you see.

Separate but equal.
Can you handle this deep stuff? Papa said.
Piping right at me with a wooden pipe in hand.
We’ll soon change that
Both you and me
he says it so full of conviction
I dare not breath.
He rocks in deep thought back and forth
And in silence I’m sure he’s completely right.
After all, he’s my father, my hero, my giant you see.

The years trickle by and my stout teacher says to me:
Blacks can’t be presidents or astronauts you see,
We are not equal to them
Both you and me
Her voice rings in my ears and echoes deep in my soul
That can’t conflicts with papa’s can in
“You can be whatever you wanna be.”
Fire in my eyes, I shoot up my hand and bellow
I can be! Whatever
I
Wanna be!

The teacher takes the dreaded paddle
Out of the rickety wooden cupboard
And brings me up to class
To do a demonstration, you see
Thwack, smack, and thwack
The paddle hits my tender ass
I press my lips and stubbornly bite my tongue,
Is this not, the land of the free?
Where
I
can be whatever
I
wanna be?