In the tradition of great writers, we will strive to use our pens and our minds to create a new national imagination. Writing is an act of becoming. You will post your first broadside by day's end.
My broadside focuses on the gap between ideals and reality and the value of rolling up your own sleeves.
The Gap
by
Dr. A. W. Tatum
June 27, 2011
9:46 am
by
Dr. A. W. Tatum
June 27, 2011
9:46 am
Springs in my legs meet broken ankles
Breast milk and broken baby bottles
The world map and the street corner
Corporate profits and overdue bills
God’s hands pulling me while the devil’s song whirls in my head
Gaddafi's war-torn Libya and a sweet kiss from my little sister
$4.25 for a bottle of water at the ballpark while children die of thirst in South Central Somalia
Gaddafi's war-torn Libya and a sweet kiss from my little sister
$4.25 for a bottle of water at the ballpark while children die of thirst in South Central Somalia
Forty-five yards away from my dream with three seconds left on the clock
Acceptance letter to the school of my choice with no money for tuition
Closing in
Closing out
Close enough
Closed
Because of me
Dark Beauty
ReplyDeleteBy
Aaron Knight
June 28, 2011
11:02
Your voice
Your words
Spoken to hurt
Against her color
Against her beauty
Allergic?
Are you or are you not!
One of a kind
Put her down only to left another
Ignorance!
Shall I say ignorant!
Millions or nothing
Dark is a thing of beauty!
Can’t Think
ReplyDeleteBy: Michael Franco
I can’t think.
I don’t know what to say.
I thought I came prepared.
It wasn’t what I expected.
Or what anyone expected.
I looked at the screen and my mind went blank.
Everything was shut down.
Why can’t I just think?
M!ke©
The nightmare
ReplyDeleteI tried to run
Smack
I do the puppy face
He breaks my leg
Now I only have
3legs
I don’t think I would
Never be normal
Like the rest of them
Why do he treat me like this
When he bought me
Here comes lunch
“ what ? “ a nibble of beans
he’s watch the other ones like me on TV
laughs
I’ll escape when he sleep
The nightmare will be over soon
Dreaming rainbows
ReplyDeleteBrightens the sky
Dreaming lighting
Makes you want to cry
Facing the dream makes you want to scream
Dreaming your alive makes heaven fly
One day the world would face the dream they never knew what lies between dreaming about life frightens me because having no sympathy bites me dreaming the sea was blue
Was they there to see heaven one day or two we live the dream just to face it again
By. DeMarioDonner
Facing the Dream
Why?
ReplyDeleteBy Nile Lansana
6/28/11
11:05 am
Boom! Boom! Pow!
I can’t sleep.
Why is this happening?
Is it because of me?
Boom! Boom! Pow!
Michael’s dead.
I still remember the last words he said:
Www… why?
Every rejection letter
ReplyDeletea BULLET hole
to an uninsured
well educated
BLACK man
with preexisting conditions.
Never skimmed a reading or
skipped a problem
or missed a meeting
but the ineloquent
BEATING
of that cardiac muscle
since age zero
the unyielding reign check
of an unstoppable drive.
No legacy
No inheritance
No trust fund
No real parents
just a DRIVE--
that's never enough.
War
ReplyDeleteBOOM, CRASH, BANG
THE SOUND OF HUNDREDS DYING
THE LOUD GUNSHOTS BELLOWING IN THE DISTANCE
DEAD BODIES FLYING IN THE AIR
BODIES DROPPING LIKE ROCKS
SCREAMS HEARD
FAMILIES CRY
BOOM, CRASH, BANG
THE SOUNDS THEY HEAR BEFORE THEY DIE
RESPECT
ReplyDeleteRespect them.
Not touching them all in public.
SHAME
Never in life is it ok to yell at them.
There will be hell to pay if you
neglect them.
You was raised better then that or
was u?
Real men don’t disrespect them.
regardless what happens.
Are you men enough?
Be a gentlemen!!!
Daylin Miller B.A.13
ReplyDeletePow-Pow
As I sit in my window and look outside all I hear is Pow-Pow.
Pow-Pow there it goes again, a mother just lost her son
Pow-Pow I hear my neighbors cry aloud
Pow-Pow they got his little brother now
Pow-Pow when is the crime going to stop
I hear someone scream NOT NOW!
Neighbors are screaming.
Babies are crying
People are dying
Someone tell me why
Why he had to die now
Eric Wilson BA #3
ReplyDeleteWhat’s wrong, Nothing
Mistakes is one thing, corrections is another.
One is not better than the other, both need to be made and avoided.
Don’t beat down one and not the other.
Nothing gets past.
Struggle? No rest?
Just another reason to be the best.
Don’t try to be perfect, it could lead to destruction.
Shouts out to Life!
Has the mighty river known as America, flowing for hope, justice and freedom met a drought? Why are people without homes, jobs, money and basic necessities such as food? Why are my questions in a queue line along with the aforementioned others? If I am asking too many questions tell me so, I will put my answer on your waiting list.
ReplyDeleteThe nightmare
ReplyDeleteI tried to run
Smack
I do the puppy face
He breaks my leg
Now I only have
3legs
I don’t think I would
Never be normal
Like the rest of them
Why do he treat me like this
When he bought me
Here comes lunch
“ what ? “ a nibble of beans
he’s watching the other ones like me on TV
laughs
I’ll escape when he sleep
The nightmare will be over soon
BA12
ReplyDelete6-28-11
Retirement
I just retired from the NBA. And life drops like a brick. I don’t care what the websites say I’ll never go broke. Spending as lavishly as I was when I worked. Got a pension but I don’t need it. 5 years later. I don’t have any money and can’t pay for my 4 cars. The bank came foreclosed my home and as I think about the look in my children’s eyes as I realize I don’t have enough money to feed us all. Now I realize simplicity would have kept me afloat.
Another Night Of Crime
ReplyDeleteAnother night at work,
Another night of crime.
Another night to see some good and some bad,
Even though the ending will be sad.
The night had stared,
and a criminal had been spotted.
The suspect had been running,
as the chase was just starting.
Up one flight of stairs,
but we were sure to follow.
The suspect had been patted down,
and the drugs had been found.
Before the arrest could be made,
the suspected would push us down a flight of stairs.
The six shots were fired,
and I was the one that caught four of them.
Even with the suspect still there,
My partners carried me to safety.
And now the one they called a power ranger,
Has just been defeated by evil.
If only I had one more day,
I could tell my children and my wife,
The Love I have for them each and every day,
And the pain I am feeling for leaving them this awful day.
Trial of the Century
ReplyDeleteEveryone returns after a court recess of an hour; this to Ms. Anderson should have felt like a lifetime, but instead is more of a nuisance that prolonged a case that was beyond her. She sat in the defendant’s seat in a striped, collared blouse with a face so blank of any emotion that rendered that the jury’s verdict had already been established in her favor. The Judge demands order with a loud bang of his gavel, then he proclaims “the state of Florida vs. Ms. Anderson is back from recess, please begin your closing arguments”. Ms. Anderson’s attorney boastfully walks up to the stand and defends her against the accusations of the state. Ms. Anderson begins to meander in thought while her attorney and the state of Florida exchange words of false truth and disbelief. Her emotionless face begins to resemble that of a child that has done wrong as the state attorney general exclaims “the truth and Ms. Anderson are strangers, no one else could have done this”.