Best Abolition Poems
FREEDOM
This mass of land, created from the amalgamation of two
Stood alone as the most eastern Caribbean island in view
Embedded with coral and volcanic ash, her strength
A peaceful place to inhabit and explore at length
**
The onset of tragedy lingered, with the Colonisation of old
As the Brits sought their heritage and desired a foothold
This peaceful land beyond, was never to be
A sanctuary for innocence nor tranquility
**
Across the treacherous seas they sailed
Complete with cargo of Settlers and Slaves entailed
To till the land for sugar cane, cotton and tobacco fields
Never to accede below the demanded yields
**
For eons the Masters dominated the sugar trade
Reaping from the backs of the weary and unpaid
They ruled the downtrodden with relentless fear
Until spoke that death of reign was near
**
The unforgiving natural disasters took its toll
Leaving this precious land with nothing more
To take, to trade or yield again
Save the memory of inhumane pain
**
Exodus from the fields agone, made way
For education and the hunt for insurgence at bay
Abolition, rebellion and emancipation ensued
And this beloved land, Barbados was liberated prelude
"FREEDOM"
(Barbados gained internal independence from the British Monarchy in 1966)
By: Liz Ward
Some watching my ease
Of execution of the self
The latent anxiety unteased
Writes me off in simplicity.
Some denuding me of honor's wealth
Wait in turmoil
For a scab to fall and unveil its pus
And if I do not flinch for pain
Writes coward beside my name
Some deck out in borrowed jewels
Could not stop me looking at the stars
They heard only my polite conversation
Saw my faith
And did not understand the transformation of desire
The restructured purpose of the heart
The difference in whose I am
They frightened ran
Frantic to recompose themselves in fear
They judged me like the world again
But O how deep the flow
Of divine grace
That such may come and find nothing in me.
I am a man of firm convictions
I know the way all things should go
Before they go
I watch the frightened blunder
Inventing old salvation in new fora
I do not yield to that
Peace is a vision of the broken self
The spontaneous abolition of lies
Do not give the heart too much grandeur
It blinds the vision to the soul
Reeks havoc of self interpretation
For before the strong delusion
Comes the lie
Do you not remember how impolite you were
How disrespectful
How nasty the tone of argument and action
And how he opened not his mouth
Waiting for you to come to confession
That gives a man a sense of justice
To execute judgment without compassion
And yet, great Christ, you wait for repentance.
You have your Barabbas
And yet you have no peace
How can right disturb the heart at rest
We weave a tangled mess
In a world of pride, but patience is a a door
I left it open
Without pain
For what you have become, what you manifest
I would not cry, could not cry for cess
Barabbas means himself well
But his history is a figment, his tale a lie
And then again
What power could sin have over sin
Poor, weak, wretched, vain
How your pretext falls like dusk
How bewildering the edge of night
If you see me again
Please note that I am the same
And through my door
Comes those who have forgotten pain
For I built it so
To admit the naked form alone
Be mortified at my door
You cannot come until you are purged
It is your life
I have neither haste nor urge
Only you can make right
I can only hold the light
For under my cosy exterior of ease
You will find again
Just what you see outside.
It's all good like they say in the hood
And we will overcome if we don't play dumb
Lookin' to extend the dream of equality
Hopin' for a life with a little frivolity.
We gotta' hold the mothers to their promise of beneficence
And not keep claiming this lie of innocence
Bleedin' heart libral thinks he done sump'n philanthropic
While he knows in his gut he, too, has been so sadistic.
Guilt has but a fleeting recognition
And pity don't pay for slavery's abolition.
Don't label me when you know not who I am
You think you know it all, in just one glance
The first to say don't judge a book by it's cover
Yet first to assume simply based on color
You see the naps in my hair and you don't understand
My darker skin, no it is not a tan
I was born this way, and I know you're jealous
Your nose jobs, fake tans, make-up, trying to embellish
The natural beauty that I have, you may never posses
Yet you try and put us down as if we are something less.
News flash, update, let me tell you something
Stop calling me African American, trying to separate me from you
I've never been to Africa, I'm simply American, proud and true
Born and raised in these great United States
That all of our ancestors helped build, so stop with the hate.
Gone but never forgotten is the history of OUR country
From the revolution, the abolition, to attacks on our homeland security.
The history is mine just as much as it is yours,
Why do we separate it, under play it, when there is so much more
Wake up America, we are a melting pot
You can try with all your might, but the mixing is never going to stop.
Juneteenth
June...back in nineteen-fifty eight, just sixty years ago,
Unknown to me, nine hundred miles away in the mid-South,
Never did I think of anything that would foreshadow...
Equal rights for me...denied to people of black color.
The waiting rooms and restrooms, solely marked as black or white:
Extremes prevailed with front and back seats taken on a bus;
Enjoying drinks from water fountains...marked, which one was right.
Nothing at home prepared me for those bigotries and 'hates'
That shocked me then, just newly married, moving with my spouse.
How could this be...in this, our land of free...United States?
Sandra M. Haight
~2nd Place~
Contest: Juneteenth
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Judged: 07/15/2018
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is an American holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans throughout the former Confederacy of the southern United States. Ref. Wikipedia
White America is uncomfortable with moving forward,
they want their future to go back to the past
“Make America Great Again!”
A brand chiseling,
cave wall jingo retail sale slogan
Snowflakes wanna hear the retro frost sound
of Viking cold chains rattling
When naked oppression was Dixie singing
That kind of Babel Tower progress, I ain’t feeling it;
them good ol’ boy days,
when America was great ...
My skin kin was moaning and screaming
They were auction sold:
Crying and wailing ... families split asunder weeping
Now, many golden amber hearts
wanna go back to that dreadful time
The Jim Crow chorus of assimilation animus
caw with shade malice lip hate crime
And not to mention,
the wage money that was free labor stolen —
Pyramid scheme abolition
Seems America was really great at emancipated slave trade:
Pharaoh prison conditions
Ivory House tombstone bellows
are foaming more divisive temporal waves
Remember the recent weepy, minstrel Happy Days,
when forced segregation was the legal rave ...
befo’ that supreme peace fellow,
nappy Harriet gave a Thurgood gavel save
But, I ain’t feeling
that rainbow kind of righteous vibe anymore
My grandfather clock is tick-tock moving backwards,
heading for the slave quarters entrance door
I suppose, it’s a great Confederate Prussian dishonor,
not to wanna rebel blue revel in the past
Especially, when you gotta red flag the fake hosannas,
that old timey white noise on bugle blast
Glaucoma grey vision
shows it’s great to be blind again
Lassie Lady Liberty limp trots leer comfortable ...
walking with a pale bigotry Cain
is a guide dog decision
America’s choice —
they picked the lewd runt of the litter
Little horn voice
blowing trumped up memories bitter
June 19, 1865, slavery in the Confederacy ended,
until then, all African Americans where slaves.
Now that the civil war was lost, blacks gained their freedom,
emancipation had become the law of the land.
Texas for the first time, accepted abolition
effectively freeing millions of slaves from bondage.
Ever since, their descendants celebrate their freedom
no longer could they be bought and sold as property.
The U.S. chose a different path to greatness, and
history commemorates each step of that journey.
(Acrostic)
June 17, 2018
Juneteenth Poetry Contest
Edward Ibeh
America, the land of the free, catering to the wealthy and pushing the poor.
Blacks are all but exempt; they are seen as property and nothing more.
California brought into this nation by gold, as a false equality,
Demanded by some to spread the systems of vast irrationality.
Extradition in compromise to abolition.
Fugitives thrown back to chains, complete pacification.
Grace, all too fallen from, that was this nation.
Humble as many others were, one woman changed the nation.
Illegal activities by abolitionist became the norm, in hopes to stop degradation.
Johns and Janes educated in the taboo subject of the naive.
Kings and knights replaced with tyrannicals and elderly slaves.
Liberty and freedom for all,
Men and woman, Black and White, all readying to fall.
Night falls, creating a stage for the quarrelsome show.
Oppositions face each other, their bodies ready to feed the coming crows.
Position between this and that,
Quarrelling over the proper way to skin a cat.
Runaways are forgotten for the time being,
Say it so, as many were fleeing.
Tackless politicians following a false tradition,
Utilitarian, one may say, on their decision.
Vicious out cries spread across the nation following
White men's decision to take a stand being,
Xecute the evils of the world.
Yells coming from each side, each saying they are more moral'd.
Zephyrs blow across the grasses, to contrast what is to come.
(CASUALTY EXTENDED MIX)
Surrealistic walls were my
horizon
an oppressive ceiling my
opaque sky.
An angel came to comfort
me
she even affords me a candid
smile.
Within deep brown eyes
a sparkle
content my hand in her’s
to lie!
Her devotion with the
needle
took away the bloom from
my face.
Southern comfort in
“Middlemore”
The true meaning of
life’s race!
Many years I guess
I’ve wondered
if a moment like this
to transpire.
A dress rehearsal for
abolition
heavenly ticket to
hire?
My worldly domain surrounds
me
illusions of hopefully
“What is right.”
It took only an
instant
to convince me that
night!
Living is just a
predicament
in which one just plays
a role.
Yet here in
casualty
a halfway house to
console.
Ethical, malign ne’er
questioned
No! Discrimination
here.
Just an awesome labyrinth of
diffusion
within an earthly
pier!
© Harry J Horsman 1998
A True story
Middlemore Hospital South Auckland New Zealand
I walked into there off the street with an heart attack.
I was a lucky one i guess?
Sam rose at dawn though there was no need
He owned the plantation now, with land
His dead father willed it with the deed
And Sam ran it with a heavy hand
The cotton could be seen for miles ‘round
Sturdy, healthy plants yielded much wealth
From dawn til dusk the slaves could be found
Toiling so hard with risk to their health
Like bees in a hive making honey
They stooped and picked to give him his life
A style that required lots of money
Freedom from work and financial strife
But at what price? He did now ponder
The slaves were dying at alarming rate
From heat, disease, so he would wonder
Abolition was the new debate
The slaves they said deserved to be free
From picking white gold for lords of land
And never live the life of a bee
Slavery seemed to them out of hand
Power and greed had made Sam so cold
He’d bought, sold and driven those poor slaves
To unfair deaths with stories untold
He could not justify all those graves
Sam was born it seemed, to just languish
With his money, he thought life was won
But now he understood their anguish
Men and women slaving in the sun
He’d beaten some, he admitted now
His father had done so too with glee
The sweat of guilt was upon his brow
Sam would sleep tonight then set them free
For the slaves were just people like him
And they deserved a much better life
Freedom from the pain and the lords’ whim
Chance for man to grow old with his wife
Those who stayed on would be treated fair
Sam knew he could right all he’d done wrong
Given time, he’d make them all aware
That free here with him was where they belong
It's the most significant day in Black American history
December 6,1865 the legal ending of chattel slavery
It was 157 years ago
When they finally let God's people go
In the year 1619 was when it all started
Africans from the Motherland were permanently parted
And when in 1787 the US Constitution came to be
The southern states now wanted the slaves
To be considered more than property
Hence there was a compromise to that plan
Black slaves would be denoted as 3/5 of a man
But in 1810 an alarming trend America would then see
The slave population started growing exponentially
Also there were now many free Blacks as well
Who were educating the slaves and causing all kinds of hell
So in 1830 the white Americans enacted a law
That teaching slaves to read would be no more
But they didn't stop at that they came at the Black preachers too
To stop them from giving knowledge and preaching the gospel truth
The Abolitionist movement in America was then born
This mighty democratic republic then became torn
The Dred Scott Decision to Blacks was a devastating blow
Until Abe Lincoln came into power to now run the show
11 southern states abdicated and the Confederacy came to fruition
A Civil War erupted in defiance of the US Constitution
The Emancipation Proclamation was then handed down
Lincoln said I'm president and this conflict over slavery stops now
And in 1864 the 13th Amendment was drafted and enacted
It ended slavery with a lot of southern dissatisfaction
Abolitionists went to Congress on January 31,1865
To make sure that Amendment in session would not be passed by
Yet it took almost an entire year for enough states to ratify
Then legally & federally slavery in America did die
4 million plus Black Americans were now legally free
Abolition Day a momentous day in Black American history
I'm the One to who you should pray;
I'm the Voice that shall never fade away,
I'm the Daemon that haunts your 3am sleep,
I'm the Whisper that eases your weep...
And in this novella, your lissome dreams,
I'm your nightmare; your midnight screams!
- I'm the Yeshua that can make pain fade,
I'm the abolition of the razorblade...
Clad in shadow I stalk your soul,
Invisible but yet in perfect control.
Thus let my voice be your destination
Away from a world with flawed harmonization.
So why cope with a life so bleak?
which has done nothing more but make you weak?
Take my hand and I'll assuage it,
Follow me down to Death's tethered pit...
Here we are, welcome to the Abyss,
Don't worry about people, you won't be amiss.
Give me a smile, a shotgun smile,
Don't worry about pain, atleast not for a while!
Aw, how your mind was delicately bent,
Like the Eye on the Earth's breast you'll descent,
Deep in it's crust, to Oblivion you fell;
A warm hearted welcome to Lucifer's Hell...
Workin' fo’ free from cradle ta grave
Laborin' sunup ta sundown e’eryday,
while Missy and Massa sat in da shade
Those were da days
Us darkies knew where our place was then,
blonde ambition wish fo' freedom was a sin
Sho’ could use a good *****
like Mister Uncle Tom again
Givin’ a big pearly grin ta greet da hate,
got a ‘xtra dollop of chitlings on da plate
Man, dem auctions, dey ne’er did run late
Those were da days
Pickin' ‘o cotton was a prickly prayer sent,
wearin’ dem chains made da soul feel bent
Runaway blues was da best song ta lip hint
Those were da days
Sunday was da fav’rite time of da week,
us tar babies got no spittin’ on da cheek
Still, we weren’t allowed shoes on da feet,
seems da hounds need a scent in da heat
Thirsty breaks always were short not long,
ere by da hangin’ tree rest da buried bones
Plantation livin’ made us boys ne’er grown
Those were da days
Thus, were the miserable days of being a slave
When America get great again,
will me and my kin get Hebrew reparation paid?
400 years has been a long time ...
Us dark faces have did a lot of siren crying,
and a whole lot of lynched dying
Our stolen heritage
was shipped in a cargo of lying
Yeah, 400 years is a very long,
solitary time ...
We’re the chained cursed ones cast in prison
Us Dante portrait byword souls
got framed for the crime
Degradation is our father,
poverty is our mother
Pain is my sister,
anger is my brother
Airy abolition nary hope got ferry shackled in leg iron —
Sepia sea cheeks kissed by a whip and a gun
was our stern, captivating reality
When robo machines got to do the labor fun,
we were allowed
to escape into color-blind fantasy
Emancipated drugs
was the cracked pipe crystal meth mirror
of our downtrodden opioid liberty
Birth of a Cloudy Eye Nation ...
only twin native promises ever given to us strangers:
Two four-letter swear words —
Jobs and Work
Guess being the reel son of a slave,
means a re-run of the old ways
Vanilla ghetto dreams rooted in the red dirt:
Plantation flowers misty tear-watered
under a cold, Northern blue sky ...
turning suddenly hot, Southern gray
Ain't no IQ need to wonder why —
Future past, these now be those days
You to whom I shall surrender
Why would you gift me with chaos?
And Make me swim in rivers that have gone dry
I found myself collecting dead roses
Out of graves that no one visits anymore
How far can you go?
To feed me lyrics of old songs
For my heart to beat music
And I shall wait for the rain
For the storms, inside of me
To drive in the most anticipated spring
I do not wish for my soul to be yours
I am too small, yet you fill me with emptiness
My verses are too vain
My poetry is nostalgia
My aim remains unfound
And you, you keep opening letters coming to the wrong address
Stealing trees I have spent years planting
You to whom I dedicate my weakness
Do you not wish to free me from your chains?
For They are too heavy
I can feel my abolition
Be gone, and grant me peace
All I want is to feel each season alone
You see, my ambition is not that big
I just want to see my seeds grow
Release me, I beg you
There is no place for me to hide
Leave me, for I seek to be complete
I no longer serve as your playground
Time have built me with strong bricks
To save me from earthquakes and hurricanes
But my intention is not to be saved
I do not aspire to stand against nature
I do not wish to fight wars I have not caused
So would you just leave me?
I shall be responsible of my own drowning
I shall witness my own destruction
Just let me heal my own soul
Let me hide my heart in libraries
Because you see, I do not wish to be found
I distributed my feelings in books
For one day I shall find me.
I’m carbon-based,
Resurrection cornerstone foundation laid
Diamond made
These obsidian eyes
sardius shine ...
agate Illuminating
my igneous bright coal face
With volcanic intensity,
my onyx lips glow
And the chest cavity
pressure beneath
fire paint
these
pulmonary
walls
Sparkling carbuncle candlelight beats,
which wax amethyst faithfully
through the opaque, misty waterfalls
A Morning Star rebirth future
was the burning bush path
I chose to embrace
Forged in the hardest fires,
I was fashioned
with mercy and grace
Mind unbendable ... spirit unbreakable
Thus, I declare: I’m Diamond made
From the naked sunburst moment
understanding first clothed me,
I was emerald told
my birthright as a slave —
Sky-sculpted, unfettered Sapphire tears
that were Diamond made
My first father chain-born,
felt the most pressure
ever
put upon
a clay-skin carbon vessel
My first shipped mother,
iron umbilical link womb held
in a dungeon cargo cell,
taught her children wisely
not to murder rebel
And the pressure to bottle that rage,
blew the doors off the cage
of my bloodline’s collective captive mind
Unlimited cosmic expansion
was our cherubic wings, innervision legacy
A spinning free-thought pulsar, Supernova aorta core,
which turquoise topaz bleed
And the pressure in their veins,
from the plantation struggles and the
abolition strivings,
was peacefully presbyterian passed down to me
Genetic roots pressure burst the oppression pipes,
and let the chrysolyte wind in my beryl lungs
jacinth breathe DNA free
Ruby righteous spirit flow to the firmament
was my ligure liberated destiny
I’m the dove offspring of Love Infinity,
pure carbon-based ...
Double blessing of joy,
that is 24/7 carat cut,
be my jasper posterity legacy
I’m Diamond made —
Resurrection cornerstone foundation laid
Sapphire twin palm pressure
is all these praying, crystal eyes ever did need