(Quatrain): "My kinky hair"

Watching a video about CJ Madam Walker tonight gave me the inspiration for this poem...

Quatrain

What is a quatrain? 

Quatrains: rhyming poems of four lines. Poets use letters to express the rhyme pattern or scheme. The four types of quatrain rhyme are: AABB,(shown at right) ABAB, ABBA, and ABCB.

1. (Quatrain):    "My kinky hair"

A source of pride

my Negro womanhood

that some cannot abide

as if they really understood

I create and develop

what kind of consciousness I want

I wont dont be enveloped

but others who hate and taunt

This is Our History

all in Black

when does it become your story too?

even if, melanin, you lack

Kinky, curly, coiled, combed and conked

When does the world really see

What all people really want

To be appreciated, unchained and free

My Kinky Hair

Oiled, pressed, plaited and brushed

Never hurried or rushed

Where I Come From

I come from that fresh-cut green grass

from the cherry bush

I come from the ole green apple tree

(Climbing its branches,

plucking, tart green apples)

I am from the china cabinet

the warm fireplace

whose flames flickered away the frostbite from my toes

I come  from the bumps and bruises,

from falling and getting back up again,

I come from the “don’t speak lest you spoken to”s

and the “too young for grown folks business”

I come from Lord sanctify my soul

with a hand clap

and a shout, yes! thank you Jesus!

I’m from Merrick and The Meadow’s Brook

fried okra and black eye peas

From the open tone my Nanny taps

on the conga

her four fingers on the edge, thumb outside

Under the living room table

I would hide many a night

sneaking peeks,

pecks of white bread rolled in sugar

I come from tippy toes on stair treads--

quietly downstairs late into the night --

Nanny’s companion never far from sight --

Inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem “Where I am From”

Nubia, revised

I'm not sure how to feel about this re-work of "Nubia". For sure I am no rapper but it was certinally fun to create a rap. I'm asking my students to do this right now in our final unit on poetry. Poetry is hard to create. It is emotional, personal, political... well it's everything. Although this isn't the best poem I've ever written, I don't mind sharing it. I realize that my students might not feel the same way. I think that they get the impression that if it isn't good, well it isn't worth sharing.... as if well, if we don't like our own work, no one else will. Sometimes I think this is a no-brainer. Other times I wonder if the simple act of putting yourself out there - taking a risk makes the work itself 'good'. Why do we care what other people think so much anyway? 

To them writing seems to still be something that is very personal. Either a source of pride of a source of shame. There seems no in-between. The middle ground is where great writers live. In the space that allows an artist to be both bad and brilliantly good at the same time. It is the practice space, where writers take risks, try new things, fail, try again, and get new ideas. That is the space I want to occupy and that is where I need to be before I can lead my students there. 

Nubia

I have no need to be

swayed by you opinion

It benefits me none to know

who you think I am

am not or should be

I’m not trying to live up to

your opinion of me

Nubia I am

dis be da Queen Ife

I have no time for games

lame dealings

with shallow folk

for material gain

of for your focus on wealth and

trappings inane

Nubia I am

dis be da Queen Ife

These are the games and treachery

keep us in poverty

Jailed and failed

Mis-used and abused

All this media attention

and stereotyping

gansta rap and gold chains

designed to keep us down

in poverty, retention, detention

Money for your goods

for your sake, not mine

If only I could bottle this feeling

strength in the storm

resilience, active mind, body and form

Nubia I am

dis be da Queen Ife

Nubia I am

Queen be, regal, royal

loyal, strong and true

but I really don't have to

prove all this to you

Winter - a Series of Haiku

Japanese Haiku traditionally consist of 17 on, or sounds, divided into three phrases: 5 sounds, 7 sounds, and 5 sounds. English poets interpreted on as syllables. Haiku poetry has evolved over time, and most poets no longer adhere to this structure, in either Japanese or English; modern Haiku may have more than 17 sounds or as few as one.

Here is a series of Haiku I wrote about snowboarding, my all time favorite thing to do. I call it my church because after having been very religious in my youth, and abandoned the church as a young adult, due to my disgust with how hypocritical and judgmental most christians are... (sorry... i digress) I found my spirituality in nature.  To me God is nature. He/She is every present there and within me... so i see her out, winter, spring, summer and fall. I leave the city limits and see out the trees, mountains, streams, farms, animals by heading to Maine. I Heart you, Maine, USA. You give me something to live for! 

"Winter"

Sad to see the snow

Melting all away like this

Good bye winter fun

"My 180"

Free like the bird up

in the sky I fly so high

180 with a pop 

"Teach me"

Teach me all you know

dear husband of mine, teach me

your signature style 

"Pro Shop"

Walk by the window 

With snowboard under my arm

headed  to the quad 

Más que un mes

la nieve cubriera el suelo,
y las hoyas de la palmera
he cambiado de verde a marrón,
todavía son quebradizos y secados por la nieve
para los que veas
la fragilidad de las hoyas refleja
la vulnerabilidad de mi consciente

Despierte en el mundo
inocente, negra, y pobre,
Esas con las circunstancias que
les dan forma de mi identidad
Que son las que poner al corriente mi futuro

Es febrero
si, es febrero otra vez mi gente,
y otra vez hubiéramos oído
de las obras de la mismas personas
Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglas y Martin Luther King

En que mes pudieras
Cuenta me de los ordinarios,
Cuyos hechos y obras son rutina

So What'cha Gonna Do - a rhyme

In this city there are two kinds of people
Those who pray and those who pay
Walk down any street
You will see all sorts

Ya might make faces
be tempted to thwart
the empty outstretched hand
give a brother a dollar
lend a guy a can of beans or rice
but food is not part of his appetite

So what'cha gonna do
when the bums are you
So what'cha gonna say
When your freedom
and money are all taken away

Boston is strong
yea that's true
but it still cost a fortune
for me and you
Scraping up a dime
Quarter, penny here
Grad school life is great, really
have no fear
Just watch your wallen
don't give too much away
Cause there's always the
dereaded temptation
up from poverty to stay

So what'cha gonna do
when the bums are you
So what'cha gonna say
When your freedom
and money are all taken away

and those who pay become those who pray

Its high time tables turned and poor people start earn

Nubia I be - a rhyme

I have no need to be
swayed by you opinion
It benefits me none to know
who you think I am
am not or should be
i'm not trying to live up to
your opinion of me

Nubia i am
dis be da Queen Ife

I have no time for games
lame dealings
with shallow folk
for material gain
of for your focus on wealth and
trappings inane

Nubia i am
dis be da Queen Ife

These are the games and treachery
keep us in poverty
Jailed and failed
Mis-used and abused

All this media attention
and stereotyping
gansta rap and gold chains
designed to keep us down
in poverty, retention, detention
Money for your goods
for your sake, not mine
If only i could bottle this feeling
strength in the storm
resilience, active mind, body and form

Nubia i am
dis be da Queen Ife

Nubia I am
Queen be, regal, royal
loyal, strong and true
but I really don't have to
prove all this to you