Maya carried fire in her
Throat.
And elegance in her traverse
The kind of woman who
Could
Burna truth into the world
And still leave the room
Sensing like grace.
She didn't raise her voice-
She raised her standards,
Made people checked themselves
Before they nudged her name.
Her words walked in heels,
Her presence walked in purpose,
And her silence
Could humble a whole
Assembly
Without breaking a sweat.
Maya taught us
That class isn't softness-
It's Discipline,
It's dignity,
It's knowingwhen to speak
And when to let your legacy
Do the talking.
She lit fires
Without burning bridges,
Told truths
Without losing poise,
And rose
Without stepping on
Anyone
Who wasn't trying to hold
Her down.
And me?
I honor her every time I write
With backbone and polish,
Everytime I let my fire
Show
Without it scorch my class.
This is my ode-
Street rooted,
Fire forged,
Class carried-
To Maya Angelou,
The woman who proved
That rising
Is an art form.
Our inheritance become stranger to us
The throne of our fathers birth the bastard king
Our palace rose against its people and its environs
Ripping us into pieces, breaking our flesh as the price to our right and inheritance
Grinning at our pain and discomfort, feasting on our flesh and blood in our land
The land that belongs to us.
The land will never forget the taste of our sweat and blood
The land will not recover from the taste of our heroes' flesh
Sons and daughters are trapped in the cage craving for bread and wine but our tears and blood become the price and the currency
It's not negotiable.
We were taunted
We were massacred
We were stabbed
We were oppressed
We were bullied and cheated
Now we're taunted
We're undefeatable, unstoppable, unbreakable in our land
Though our flesh is broken and our blood was shed but our bones and veins are risen to take possession of our archaic palace and our fathers' throne
The labour of our heroes' past has risen
It's the beginning of our journey.
The beginning is begun
We began with the journey.
We will never die again
there's a gentleness in the trade winds
dancing in the palm fronds
just beyond my balcony
where lie the rolling waves
kneading the shore
pelicans gliding those crests aloft
as the magnificent frigates glide above
rare occasions the dolphins debut
racing always southward
past the river and into the bay
thrilling the surfers on the long wave
to have such ocean brethren at play
and the later delights from this view
the setting sun in a disappearing glow
watching continually for that moment
the last gasp of the green flash
but by far my favorite, the descending moon
submerging into a silver highway
a path that beckons me to the other side
where you watch it rise
and as i watch it go
i find happiness in knowing
the joy it brings to one i loved
and still do
the absent one from this balcony
Oregon 9/25/26
They printed a bootleg
Twin of me,
A knock-off stitched in pixels
Of Remnants,
It emulated my stride,
But the soul wasn't tied,
Just a shadow that ain't
Ever been free-
So I caught it slippun'
In the alley-light chant,
Patched together from borrowed
Glow,
Walkin' through corners
I ain't never trodden in.
It talk like me
But the delivery is glitchy
Moves like me
But the spirit is empty, hollow,
A Counterfeit clone
Trying to spend my name
Like loose change
In the wrong hands.
And when it tried to pass
As the real one,
I felt the half-rhyme beat
Kick back in my chest:
A twin made a fleeting in the
Dark of night,
A remix wrong, a stolen light,
It copies my flame,
But can hold my name,
Breaken' apart when failed
With what's right.
So I stood in my authenticity,
Watched that knockoff
Silhouette
Glitch at the edges,
Unravel at the seams,
Cause it ain't built from my
Breathe,
Ain't blessed by my walk
Ain't stamped by the Supreme Being
Will.
Just a Bootleg twin
Tryna link with my
Daylight,
But falling apart
In the real me.
An Ode to Emily Dickinson
by Frank Daub
Whatever did you ask for?
Whatever,
for your heart, your soul.
You clothed yourself in disbelief,
You denied your innate beauty.
Superficial measures formed your grief –
Strength nourished your duty
To celebrate the universe.
Your isolated loneliness made bitterness
Sweet.
Lonely observer of humanity’s soul –
You were.
Lonely and humble – in your eyes.
Yet,
There was a holiness in your love.
Shall I record every WORD
Dreams given in the night
Should I seek confirmation
From those who don't know the Light
Should I show prophecy
And attest to the TRUTH
Open books of warning
I've given since my youth
Will Kings and kingdoms
Rise up and claim allegiance
Approving of WISDOM
They act out in appalling grievance
.....against all evil
That is of Spirit is Spirit
No flesh can clothe LOVE
The purity of His heart
Cannot align with anything that matter is made of
The eternal record is finished
Recorded on the Spirit of man
When the soul arrives in the space
The resonance reveals the plan
Unchangeable, undiminished
The resilience rings forth His glory
What a privilege to be
A single WORD in the everlasting story
....grace has walked us through
Written by Trudy Schrader on 09-23-2026
Have you ever thought
That those sprinkled words
You once left
On your personal notes
Are just heavy memories
Wishing to be brought
To the surface?
They swirl mid air
In your dusty wooden workshop
Wishing for you
To purge them
To alchemize them
To transmute the black matter
Into pure light
Into sparkles and delight
No matter
How relentless they are
To how many treacherous lands
They’ve taken us so far
The message of hope for us all
Is: “May we always find
Bravery, Space and Time
To tame the chimeras
That wander freely in our minds
Bring them to our side
And dance in unison
With the utmost delight.”
There once was a festive green block,
Stacked high on the rim of a dock.
With peace in it's heart,
It chose to depart,
And plunge off the edge with a
shock!
the lavender lake
cradles a small paper boat
beneath moonlit reeds.
some journeys ask for no oars,
only faith in the current.
I Was Here A While
I was here as the last breeze unfurls
To see the waves last few curls
What shall become of me afterwhile
Waiting for the moon I think I'll
Make my peace watching the ocean meet the sky
Pondering all those things that no one knows why
While the sun's last rays stand in the way
The moon has no place to play
I was here a while on this tiny sphere
Vibrating to the ocean"s roar so clear
In the earth's blink of her eye
Even a billion years after I die
To this marble I'll be dead for sure
In God's gift to the universe I'll remain obscure
A life of searching for where I fit
Maybe all I can do is imagine it
Not to forever live
Only mere moments does he give
Each a blessing
To be possessing
Beyond my time the future lays
And what may happen in those days
For I have no way to know
What may come and what may go
When my last breeze blows
And my final wave goes
All those moments of joy and pain
Will be lost like tears in the rain
Sensing
Prejudice is a pendulum
that swings both ways-
I write,
not so much
for you to know,
as for me to tell...
Life isn't always a pattern,
Sometimes it's a Kaleidoscope!
Cme out
Door closed, surrounded by walls
sealed inside , darkness, cries, sadness, lost soul
Look around, alone, scared, confusion, cold
I scream, anyone there?
No responce
I scream, please help me?
NO responce
stand up walls too high
reach out to feel something
nothing but darkness
I scream is this real
No responce
weakness, no strength, my legs collapse
I fall crotched down in a ball , rocking slowly, tears fall
my hands grab my head, am I in trouble, the yelling echos in my head
I look up and see the light, but I cant reach it
the only sound is the voice in my head,
I scream Please stop talking, I scream STOP!
I hold my breathe, 1 minute, 2 minutes exhale deep breathe in
open your eyes, stand up, leave those thoughts in the dark
You know it will come again, maybe less time
Written down: Come out, the world is right outside your door.
The child inside is an adult, fighting whats behind that closed door
They slide through the city quietly,
No badge, no spotlight, just that
Hush - pressure vibe that makes your
Skin read the room before your eyes do.
Unseen movers
Unseen scribes
Writing your name in places
You ain't never walked.
They draft futures in
Side-pockets,
Tuck provision in the corners of
Conversations, drop signatures in
Hush Hush.
Like chalk marks only the street can decode.
You feel 'em in the shift- that micro pause-
That air-tight moment
Where the world alters itself
And pretends it didn't.
State Actors,
No stage
No curtains,
Just corridors that rearrange when you blink
Too slow,
Scripts of the unseen, inked in obscurity,
Performed in systems
That don't need an audience to keep the
Plot running.
But You?
You walk through it rowdy
Refusing to let hidden hands
Truth and bright
Ghostwrite your fate.
Potential is not a promise-
and that's all I've seen in you.
I've given every opportunity-
but you've never followed through.
(You once) treated me with kindness-
but I deserve much more.
I deserve a kind of love-
I've not experienced before.
See, I deserve consistency-
and I deserve the truth.
And I deserve my wishes-
(and all of) my dreams to come true.
I've come to learn from my mistakes-
that patience gets you nowhere.
Not when one's committed-
(to serve) themselves; although it's not fair.
(I) love you for many reasons-
and I'm not sure that will change.
But you've shown me by your choices-
you don't love me the same way.
Choices aren't mistakes-
see, they are conscious trains of thought.
You choose to make decisions-
that you know leave me distraught.
So, since you choose to hurt me-
instead of fixing what you've broken...
I choose to walk away-
my sense of worth has been awoken.
Where South China waters churn heavy and wide,
A widow rose up with the ocean's own tide.
No emperor’s decree could govern her hand,
She ruled forty thousand across sea and land.
Her laws were of iron, her word absolute—
No plunder unshared, and no thief with his loot.
With hundreds of junks bearing canvas of red,
The empires of Europe beheld her with dread.
The Qing and the Portuguese launched their attack,
Yet her fleet in the bay drove the battle-line back.
She outfought the crown and she outmaneuvered the state,
Till they offered her peace at the emperor's gate.
She surrendered her sails, but retained all her gold,
A pirate supreme who grew peaceful and old.
Though dynasties crumbled and admirals fell,
The terror of Canton lives on in the swell.
Courage Categories
Definition | What is Courage in Poetry?
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Related Poetry Forms
fearlessness, spunk, grit, daring, endurance, tenacity, audacity, heroism, determination, firmness, prowess, valor, fortitude, spirit, bravery, gallantry, nerve, dauntlessness, backbone, intrepidity, power, temerity, guts, adventurousness, gameness, pluck, recklessness, dash, pugnacity, enterprise, venturesomeness, stoutheartedness, rashness, resolution, mettle, hardihood, élan, adventuresomeness, bravura, lion heartedness,