Best Class Assignment Poems
Dirty am I, was I until Jesus Washed Me Clean
O’ but that I have been lost
Trapped incumbent to this storm
Tattered and bathed in my own sin
until Jesus came and washed me clean
Trapped incumbent to this storm
Dirty was I now I'm cleansed
until Jesus came and washed me clean
Dirty am I, was I
Dirty was I now I'm cleansed
Tattered and bathed in my own sin
Dirty am I, was I
O’ but that I have been lost
1/2/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020©
Written for class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)
**THE MAN AND THE PEANUT**
Who was George Washington Carver?, black educator and scientist;
and maybe even some crimes he tried to abolish;
Then he devoted special attention to agriculture development;
From the sweet potatoes;
He developed things like dyes,
from clay,
to dandelions,
to tomatoes;
Making paints from cattle manure;
Making that he was more sure-of;
The Peanut he saved;
His artwork in the many painted pictures he had made;
~
**The Man and The Peanut**
Who was George Washington Carver that black man and the peanut;
He who helped bring the world's agriculture development together but...
What of the Hawley Smoot tariff bills;
Dr. Carver appeared and the farmers said go to the hills;
Went but more he came to change the farmers will;
Went on to till it carried the tariff bill, even still;
Dr. Carver was "THE MAN AND THE PEANUT"
His many all night experiments put him in a bit of a rut;
He was made Collaborator in the BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, not then belonging to human ecology;
He was put in front of the broad of disease and mycology;
~
Yes!, Dr Carver was "THE MAN AND THE PEANUT"
OH, and he was sometimes called the original peanut man;
But thought they tried to put him down, he always did what he could and;
Those COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES IN TUSKEGEE ran... a rush;
The peoples of the town made there number one man a bronze bust;
Yes!! This original Mr. Planters Son;
Near the end was a member of the Royal Society of Arts in London;
(Bet you didn't know) Now that GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER never was sworn, to live a life of defilement;
But sometime the world wonders where the famous man and the peanut:
by _)@mes /__ee
10/12/70
Written words by James Edward Lee©1970, 2019
Written @ North High School 1970 for Class assignment
"Oh, precious dragon you're ever so beautiful Your freshness caress surrounds my body you provide me with bliss and old perfect dragon how beautiful you are for my Consciousness does insist yet I resist your choices you speak to me and soft mellow tone you're handsome beautiful your glorious did I say awesomely beautiful and yet you endanger me even tracked me he send your snares to Captivate me oh how Bleak the midnight death Eternal chain by the ankle tossed into the abyss old Dragon beautiful Dragon I resist your tempting kiss well well into my fable I sit here at this desk at a table with a pen in hand I write a novel where I envisioned you dragon you're not a nine mystical creature you you're not an addiction yet it's you my bad habit I'd have chosen this entrapment as I battle you your thoughts your spoils So Glorious you are two behold and yet tempting trickster you're a liar and you're the father of Lies You Learn me with emotion compassion and I'm felt devotion bu friendly you're a liar endangerment I shall not no longer to linger with you why I don't want to be chained by the ankle and encased in Hell's fire,
O, Friendly Dragon, beautiful that you are ankle bound with chains are you worth saving
Selah!!!
10/18/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr
Written for North Omaha Writers group (NOW) Class assignment
inspired by and shamelessly ripped off of "Easter, 1916" by William Butler Yeats
I have heard from hushed voices
Of connections new and old
Underneath the light of the candle
About the table we were told.
About the retribution through blood
Brought on by discovery
Through a night in the pub
From a disillusioned companion
Around the fire at the club
A terrible beauty had been born
The revolution has begun
Where the motley was once worn
As a young teen I sadly confess, I dreamt of becoming an actress.
A class assignment drew me to Warner's in D.C., where I
brushed up against black history..
I stumbled into a meeting of the NAACP.
The people welcomed one out of touch, this
young white girl who had way too much..
Months later, although mom's words were harsh my dad and I
went to the Poor Peoples March. I was amazed to see thousands there,
those pop up tents from every where. I drove by with peripheral vision,
those fleeting glimpses of how others were living..
Early years passed and I matured some how, remaining oblivious to "black
power".
I graduated from high school and was freed from mom and watched as
several of my class mates went straight to Viet Nam..
I never went to Woodstock nor protested the war, too caught up in my
story to care about the poor..
I moved from sheltered Silver Spring to New York City and had my own
adventures there, some not very pretty..
I indulged in a little "huffing and puffing". My hands were in a wheat film
buttering an English muffin..
Impulsiveness and hormones got the best of me so at a young age I
began my family..
Many moons later while finishing my degree I learned so much more
about Black history. As a minority student at Bowie State I had a teacher,
Dr. Kondo and he was truly great. He had just consulted for the film
Malcolm X and filled me in on all those voids not written in the texts.
The greatest of gifts that one can bestow is to take off those blind folds
and help some one grow.
I AM A HERO
BLACK
Are you my kryptonite
To battle the powers that be
Discrimination, political
Spirituals warfare
Sadly my powers that be ruled over me
I AM A HERO
WHITE Are you my kryptonite
White supremacy, skinned heads
Wounded knees
Shaved cold stoned hearts
Sadly my powers that be ruled over me
I AM A HERO
NATIVE AMERICAN what tribe am I
And where am I, Are you my kryptonite
Rich men never poor again fighting rising TAXES
What a shame
This disclaimer
Black Panthers in the jungles
Just getting stronger;
Poverty clashes
Fake rented mustaches
Seasoned hick
Country kicks
All run away, no where to stay to each his own way
Just ain’t right to be individual heroes see none are right…
Sadly my powers that be ruled over me
HERO AM I
Lo, I be creeping in the night…
I KRYPTONITE
1/30/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020©
January 28, 2020 Assignment
Written for class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)
I tranquility
I’m calm
I restfulness
I’m peace and quiet
Peacefulness I am
I quiet in quietude
I’m silence
I’m soundlessness a hush
I’m calm
In the calmness of the Lord
PEACE
Stillness still am I
Privateness seclusion in mine solitude
Isolation retirement
Freedom from interference
Mental calm in mind serenity.
I am at peace and forever be
in a larger sense, peace (or peacefulness) can alas I’m always in a state of harmony,
Quiet or calm
I’m in serenity
Peacefulness, tranquility
I’m calm
In the calmness of the Lord
My composure placidity placidness and at rest
I’m repose so at ease in comfort contentment In God’s security
Bliss
Joy
Nirvana, Hallelujah
Mixed in law and order
Peacefulness harmony
In harmoniousness accord Jesus concord
Amity I am amicableness in goodwill many friendship
Cordiality nonaggression and nonviolence
Respite
Lull
A ceremonial handshake or kiss exchanged during a service in some Churches symbolize I my Christian love and unity.
PEACE
That is not disturbed by anything at all,
I’m like a still pond with no ripples.
PEACE
I release myself of my emotions
I am not humanity judge nor jury
I am free
Freedom from dispute or dissension between individuals or groups
I agree and receive and believe in God’s grace and His glorious
PEACE
PEACE released
I’m a witness
PEACE is still
PEACE is here for I speak it
ALWAYS
Simple peace.
Peace is a time without any fights or wars.
law and order I speak and live order peacefulness
Peaceableness harmony harmoniousness accord with my brothers and sisters
Concord amity amicableness goodwill friendship even if you proclaim to be my enemy
Cordiality nonaggression nonviolence respite lull
I’m so peace now it’s borderline unbelievable
PEACE
PEACE released
I’m a witness
PEACE is still
PEACE is here for I speak it
ALWAYS
Simple peace.
Peace is in my life
In my minds world
I pour my heart out peace is mind and it can be yours?
This I receive it, speak it and I believe it…
PEACE released
I’m a witness
PEACE is still
PEACE is here for I speak it
ALWAYS
Simple peace.
1/9/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020©
Written for class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)
January 7, 2020 Assignment
Everything’s been frantic since the break.
What people don’t tell you about college,
is that you’re just tired ALL of the time.
I’m so tired, yawn ‘scuse me.
So if you’re planning to talk to me, bring coffee, make
some effort to be interesting - clap your hands or.. something.
Work piled up on me while I was sick (I missed two days!)
and it radiated across my.. everything, like nuclear waste.
In New Haven, you have the inalienable right to fall behind.
ok, let’s put it poetically..
The microorganism was as fast and brutal as a twister
and it spun, tricksily, out of a clear blue day
leaving me weak, in shock and totally focked.
I needed things that come after a natural disaster
- wailing sirens, to clear the way for organized relief
but no volunteers can help me pick-up the pieces.
I guess I needed another challenge this term.
Sure, my roommates check in, but they have their own traumas
and they’re like those slow, drive-by accident-tourists that gawk.
Too bad there’s no such thing as missed class/assignment insurance.
There’s a saying (cleaned up), here at Yale, that goes:
It’ll get done because it HAS to get done.
.
.
There are several songs for this piece:
‘We're All Alone’ by Kennedy Ryon
‘Totally Wired’ by The Fall
or ‘Baxter (These Are My Friends)’ by Fred again.. & Baxter Dury
Two days: 4 lectures, 3 labs, 600 pages of reading. Things roll baby - they certainly don’t stop for mE.
Webster: Inalienable: impossible to take away or give up
At the Doorly Zoo a well-trained guerrilla waves
It’s 3:00 am
Gorilla flung his manure like a combat soldier in guerrilla warfare
No one but the ground keepers are there, MAN DOES IT SMELL
The phone rings at 3:00 am
Do you know where the monkeys are?
In the trees most of them upside down asleep
Emerald eyes shines as the screeching bats
Float, flutter, and fly in their habitat
Swoosh-----
The phone yet rings as 3:00 am
"At the Pavilion as the phone yet still rings at 3 a.m."
Some careless butterflies escape their exhibits
A few gotten eaten by night flown bats
What a traffic jam as the fish parade tween their glass petition
Punch adolescence gophers and ground hogs race for territory environment
While in the oval pit, circles the wild bobcat
It’s yet early, early morning at the Doorly Zoo
What are the animals gonna do
You see it be a wrong number…
A the pavilion as the phone yet still rings at 3:00 am
This wrong number person just keeps calling, calling…
Must be an emergency or something
See it be a wrong number…
"At the Pavilion as the phone yet still rings at 3 a.m."
1/9/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020©
January 7, 2020 Assignment
Written for class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)
Oh! as I begin this journal hardly ...I REMEMBER those Car-Keys
I remember in high-school the first time I placed car keys in the ignition
I remember that I had envision some grand flow
I remember that I didn't even know the first auto I was in was a Volkswagen
And I DON'T KNOW HOW! to drive no stick(shift)
I remember hinkN man-Oh-man where's the automatic(transmission)
I remember I hated cars back then, give me my Ten Speed Schwinn™
I remember the simulator trainers, give me them any day liken a video game then
Even need car keys to start them
I remember failing the physical driving test so I went on a road trip on my 10-speed bicycle
But my favorite memory's yet to come
verrrrooom!!
10/18/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.©2019
Written for North Omaha Writers group (NOW) class assignment
Quietly I spoken, true words;
To shy to say;
Too shy to say out loud;
I love you!!
Spoken beautifully and loud and clear,
For the world to hear;
I say to myself God Oh Lord I love her;
I thing toe world of you girl, woman I love her, Oh!!
I am living a quiet night with my lonely heart;
Oh and I am guiltily quietly awaiting the return of affection;
Coming from you girl, I truly love you so...no more defections;
In the gardens.. pear trees blossoming from orchards and farms;
Love nests, pretty little mama's being lead by the arm;
Quiet nights and lonely hearts;
Bring past memories of days we're part;
Quiet nights at days end;
Depended on our love, my dearest friend;
There's a shadow of doubt;
Behind the world of pain;
A light of love all about;
Lonely hearts in vain
Day breaks and days ends;
And days spread away;
Quiet nights depends;
On lonely hearts at bay;
Those quiet nights depending on
Lonely hearts at bay;
Now that we're finally together...
This be the end of my quiet night and lonely hearts
11/16/70
9/11/70
Written words by James Edward Lee©1970, 2019
Written @ North High School 1970 for Class assignment
Class assignment: Read only the first verse of Easter 1916 by Yeats, then write a continuation (without looking up the original).
I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
I wandered a while, bereft of thought
Through the spaces and crowds,
In all that passed around me naught
But a single whispering voice.
“Where are you walking toward?”
The windless mist grew heavy;
Within the smiling, striding horde
I smiled, directionless.
The sun was set, and in its wake
Stand wandering shadows, transfixed
I could see only what I could make
Of guts spilled on trampled bricks.
“Oh, where are you going?” I asked
From the mist there was no answer.
No time, then, to mourn what is past
A terrible beauty is born.
Death is beauty only when it’s physical and your –
Soul and spirit goes to heaven
Ugly is beauty causing you to recruiting
Beauty is just a name
For the selfish
And the immune
Beauty is beheld
And I shall not behold
~
Beauty is the newborn winkled baby
Beauty is newfound land you enable
Beauty is Lucifer Satan
For you see he was one of the most…
Beautifulness of all thee angels
~
Beauty is just a name, for the selfish
And unrighteous
To keep down the plain, normal, and quiet
For the selfish as immune
Beauty is beheld and behold
Beauty only beauty when it comes from within then goes out
When you know this then you can shout
3/4/2020
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020©
Written for February 25, 2020 assignment
For Class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)
**i wrote this for a class assignment and it turned out better than I expected, and so I would like to share it on poetrysoup. enjoy!**
Standing behind the counter
Of my mother's flower shop
Watching people walking by
Caring nothing for a stop
At Blooming May's little corner flower shop
Months went by
Years
Yet I'm still standing here
Selling almost nothing at my mother's flower shop
Then one day
A rush of air
Footsteps sounding
Loud and clear
Come customers stopping by at my mother's flower shop!
For fathers,
Mothers,
Friends, sisters,
And brothers,
Husbands, wives,
And sweethearts
Buying pieces
And parts
At my mother's blooming little corner flower shop.
Evening came and found
My pocket full of pennies
I think I shall give a flower
For the Roaring Twenties.
I stand here in silences, but God knows me
I sit here in my personal space, quiet yet God hears me
You ask me how am I doing, you speak to me, say, “Hi”
Ever so ever yet quiet am I
Yes! It’s rude
It’s so not normal
To be ever so unpassionate, and disrespectful
Non communicated
So dumb-founded
……………………..The sound of silence
In my deepest whispers, I heard
The screams of my hidden demons
And my voice just chokes when I open up my eyes
My throat holds the air I breathe in
Now I’m ever so still
So dumb-founded
…………………..set in this the sound of silence
Beaten like a drum, cut up like a fish
Body placed on…society shattered dish
So infected no protection
Mum the word, challenges heard
Non bias
……………….The sound of silence
Breathe I not, no longer standing nor sitting
Still born, still not heard
No breathe coming out-my mouth
Laying down in this $5.000.00 METALLIC blue casket
You see me now
………………...still in my sound of silence
11/12/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2019©
Written for class assignment (WIPS) North Omaha Writers Group (NOW)