Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 216.73.216.198
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
I Can’t Breathe My Country, I ask of thee, why do you still hate me? America the Beautiful, why, why, am I scorned and reviled, your unwanted dark child? With your knee on my neck, I’m still enslaved, gasping for breath.. gasping for breath… waiting for the Angel of Death. You despise my skin, this honeyed skin of a blackened hue; you lynch me - hang me from a tree, from sea to shining sea. Dear God, will I ever be free? With your knee on my neck, I’m still enslaved, gasping for breath.. gasping for breath… waiting for the Angel of Death. Enslaved by your forefathers from the 17th Century, you sent your hounds after me, set me on fire, ripped the baby from my swollen belly... why oh why, Sweet Land of Liberty? Why are you free only for some... but never for me? With your knee on my neck, I’m still enslaved, gasping for breath.. gasping for breath… waiting for the Angel of Death. You curse my dark skin and I'm nothing to you, I'm just a non-entity with no soul. Yes, my crime is my blackness; heartless, you laugh as I plead, heartless you watch as I bleed... and then you watch me die. With your knee on my neck, I’m still enslaved, gasping for breath.. gasping for breath… waiting for the Angel of Death. You've shackled and pinned me down, now I’m helpless on the ground... and I can’t breathe; I'm telling you ... I can't breathe. But as I take my last breath, don't you ever forget, that not even the Angel of Death… can obliterate the generations that will take root and rise up, from my Blessed Blackness. Date: 06-13-2020 Contest: I Can't Breathe Poetry Contest Sponsor: Richard Lamoureux Placement: 2nd Place
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required