The noble house rom the Scottish Lowlands
with the green, white, and blue bands.
The green for the salamander
resting on a bed of amber.
Although, factually, our monuments are ruins,
The kilt has a hint of blue in.
Having an appearance in the 12th century,
The history and descendants will never lose energy
Never behind as it appears on the crest
still stands today as it is above the rest.
Having no chief does not scare them,
for William Douglass was their original gem.
The nobleness of the first earl
Caused him to have a little girl
And those his children were considered "illegitimate",
They would have never allowed the clan to ascent.
He understood what I now know
But did not at first
For I had not seen broken children before
Now that I have I understand
They can be tainted and tortured
into submission before they reach school
“It is easier to build strong children
than to repair broken men”
words penned by Frederick Douglass
Wisdom personified
Once broken it is like rebuilding
and rebuilding and rebuilding
After a child has lost hope
lost trust, lost believing in himself
he filters out the good, hearing only the bad
If we do not reach them
before the good has been
crucified and whipped out of them
We may never reach them at all
The key is to reach the parents
And teach them how to love their children
The belt is never the answer
Once you have had the belt
You are always broken
Take it from one who knows
From
Experience…..
I was a picked on,
bullied, browbeaten, buffaloed boy
from Buffalo New York.
I grew up on Buffalo’s lower east side,
the ghetto by another name.
The Frederick Douglass towers.
Formerly the Talbert Mall
better known as the Jefferson projects.
The home turf to a gang
called the Pythons.
It was a place
where angels fear to tread.
I had so many bullies
it’s a wonder I didn't end up dead.
I had more bullies
than the law allowed.
I survived my childhood somehow.
I can count one hand
how many times
I was saved by gang members. (5)
I join a bigger gang
right after high school.
The United States Army,
and saw the world,
Germany, Turkey and Italy.
I met the man who would be
my Kung-Fu master,
three years later he had made me
a very dangerous man.
Back stateside I became
DJ Bobby K “The One to Know”
For a little over fourteen years,
I played the music
that made the difference.
All the while I heard the voices.
In the year 2,000
I took a course
in creative writing,
and Bobby K
“The Poor Man's Poet was born.”
Now when I go out to speak,
I mean to be heard,
giving voice to the spoken word.
It was 20 years ago…the year was 1999
and we thought the world would change….after Columbine
We hoped something would be done
after children were gunned down with their books
We thought the world would change…
and then came Sandy Hook
And we hoped something would be done
we can’t sit back and watch our children die…
and we thought the world would change
then came Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High…
But nothing has been done…
Today these mass murders persist
as we sadly add El Paso and Dayton to the list.
We should have learned our lesson
that was in that first mass shooting taught…
but after Columbine,
after Sandy Hook…
after Parkland…
we did not.
We like to think we are not a heartless people
although we act just like we are.
At what point do we as a nation say
this has gone too far?
So once again I pray we find a solution…?once again I pray we’re ready draw the line…
so we don’t have to wait another 20 years
after Columbine.
I was Douglass
A good person
Better than the day that gifts a friendly sun
A humble fellow
Humbler than the trees that regard the regal ride of the
wind.
Oh, wealth
You all I desired, then
Why Playing ceaseless host
To those honest crooks
And left me waiting in the pinching rain of hard-up-ish?
Now, I'm Dog-lass
A rich man
Richer like a man who had 1, 000 wives
A smart fellow
Smarter than the chimpanzee even in its own game
Black! a word that always tend to stir
From ages hath caused a birr
after decades of raging war
they still shir!!
Black exist in all, a part
be it the color of eyes, skin or heart
or the thoughts and actions
only few can see, those smart.
At night the stars shine bright
Jesse, Oprah, Doris, Latimer to cite
For the major role they played
in every field, but still smite
All the efforts were in vain
of King, Douglass and others who did strain
for they are doomed to be remembered
a few days, a month, feign!
Without night there’s no day
for they go hand in hand and play
so hath universe been created
and yet the world seems to stray
there is no black history, oh blind!
for it is the history of mankind
to be remembered and revered
forever keep in mind
@ Nadiya (24 Feb '15)
*Placed 1st in the contest 'Writings in a Black Perspective' by Verlena S Walker on 19 March 2015
THEY WERE AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL THEY WERE MIGHTY AND THEY WERE STRONG.
THEY FOUGHT FOR EQUALITY AND FOR JUSTICE THEY PUT GOD FIRST IN EVERYTHING.
THEY DO.
THEY STOOD UP FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVED IN THEY DIDN'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.
I SEE THEM AS MIGHTY MEN AND WOMEN WOULD NOT TAKE A BACK SEAT.
ONE MINUTE THEY WERE HERE BREATHING THE AIR OF LIFE THEY NEXT MINUTE THEY ARE TOUCHING THE GROUND ASLEEP IN THEIR COFFINS.
FOR IF THERE WERE NO WASHINGTON THERE WOULD NO LINCOLN, NO TEDDY,NO FDR, NO JFK, NO CLINTON.
IT WAS SUSAN B. ANTHONY WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR WOMEN SUCH AS GERALDINE FERRARO, NANCY PELOSI AND SO MANY OTHERS.
SHE PROVED THAT A WOMAN IS MORE THAN JUST A CHILDBEARER AND A MAID.
IF THERE WAS NO NAT TURNER THERE WOULD BE NO FREDERICK DOUGLASS, NO MARTIN LUTHER KING, NO MALCOLM X THEY WOULD BE NO OBAMA.
THEIR LEAGACY LIVES ON IN THE LEADERS WHO ARE IN THE MAKING INSPIRING US TO BE ALL WE CAN BE AND IF WE FOLLOW OUR DREAMS WE CAN GO ANYWHERE.
Empowerment
Inticement
Power
Promotion
Selfishness
Greed for more Michael Douglass in tow
Control
Warhol
Acid
Mitigation
Solitude
Alone
Shady
Pilgrims on the highway out of control
Wasted
Bondage
Societal influx
Caged fury in delusion
Bondage
An adaptation toward self alone
Control
Loose Cannons
Minds controlled by destruction marked on its blotted page intact
Evil empire
Dwarfed in decision making
Out of control
Bondage
Savage beasts brute in desire for more?
No soul,
Divination
Welcome to America!
Nobama
Reckless warriors in soldiers fragmentation
Nazi
Shaded Soprano
Branded eyes with skulls fractured among us
The garden of Eden in exchange for death
Loose cannons approaching the river Nile
Hypocrisy!
Smokescreen for the captitalists agenda!
Every time I go
to the place we know
I get sad inside
and i want to hide
when i think of you
and the things you do
I want to run away
break down and cry
And Its a thrill
But it kills
and we're still
not anywhere
and i know that we're not going soon
but i don't care.
BY: Ava Douglass
Age: 12
Christmas eve is here,
Do not fear,
Santa will appear,
Sleep sweetly my dear.
Christmas eve is a fun time,
Don't worry about the time,
The harder times are on their way,
Walk on slowly it'll be okay.
By: Ava Douglass
Age: 12
Hello blue skys nice to see you again,
I can now see clouds and tiny jet planes.
The sun is high up too high to touch too hot to clutch,
Oh how I wish I could feel that burning, magnificent ball of fire.
Snow, its sad you've gone,
But you had to go,
You had your time, you had your roll,
This was the final destination.
By: Ava Douglass
Age: 12
Snowy, white, crystal fields,
Trees no longer give the fruit it yields,
Honey bees,
Blossom trees,
Morning sun,
Cherry bun,
Trick or treating,
Sneaky eating.
4 seasons,
Without reasons,
Every year,
A year without fear.
By: Ava Douglass
Age: 12
She once met a man called Noel,
He was a musician of rock and roll,
They sang and played music into the night,
When she is with him she doesn’t get a fright.
Then He turned to her and said...
You’ve got the rhythm in you,
You’ve got it in your shoes,
You’ve got it in your bones,
You’ve got it in your toes,
You’ve got it in your hair,
You’ve got it everywhere,
You’ve had it from the start,
You’ve got it in your heart.
Through the wind they whispered singing softly,
Into the crack of dawn, morning light...
At 6am she fell asleep,
Subconsciously she heard a creep...
She woke up and he wasn’t there,
She called for his name,
It was like he didn’t care,
She was going insane!
She still hears those words at night,
Though unable to see Him through sight.
You’ve got the rhythm in you,
You’ve got it in your shoes,
You’ve got it in your bones,
You’ve got it in your toes,
You’ve got it in your hair,
You’ve got it everywhere,
You’ve had it from the start,
You’ve got it in your heart.
By: Ava Douglass Age: 12
To Build a spaceship you need:
Saucepans. For intergalactic transmissions to other planets like mars,
Planets to orbit. If not what else would a spaceship do?
Aliens. Every Spaceship needs aliens!
Captain. Before you even start to make a spaceship you need a captain,
Egg cups. To act as buttons as they are too expensive.
Sky’s the limit! In this case its actually not in a spaceship, but what I mean is let you imagine
run free, nothings too difficult when building a space ship,
High-fives, are always necessary when something goes right
Intergalactic. Be sure to write intergalactic on various buttons and levers to make your
spaceship look more hi-tech,
Pie. When the spaceship is finally finished, tuck into some pie!
By: Ava Douglass Age 12
Orange eyes like tiny topaz crystals glisten as he watches the sun go down, fading into a sea-
like sky of yellow and orange.
Lost. He finds a howling lost cub. Two is stronger than one he thinks. And lightly clasps the
delicate cub in his bloodstained teeth.
Shortly, after 8 weeks of starvation the wolf became extremely famished...
A few seconds later the young, oblivious pup looked up to find it was gazing into the now
blood-thirsty, ravenous wolf’s once sparkling orange now wicked red eyes.
He will never forgive himself for what he did, but he will forget.
By: Ava Douglass Age: 12
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