Long Emmett Poems

Emmett Till Emmett Till
Why was it you they had to kill
Why did they drag you from your bed
Why did they pistol whip your head

What exactly did you do
To make them do this thing to you
Just...

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there comes a time when
people you once respected
reveal
or you discover
the real
person behind the mask

face facts
people who never wanted you
to do better
than them
are now wishing
that you would 
shut your mouth
stop your tweeting
delete your facebook
get out of...

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I am Emmett Till. 
I was beaten to death, so how dare you go through everyday life complaining that it's "pure hell". 
I'd rather be locked up in a jail cell. 
Or sitting in a...

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In a past life I must have killed a priest, 
 or could it be that on flesh i did feast?
Maybe I brutally raped a God ordained nun.
 Because in this life I am being...

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For me, crazy is a loose term.Crazy is when you 
stare at a pencil and laugh when someone
asks you what you are doing that is so 
interesting about the eraser. Crazy is when you have...

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1955 Was a Very Good Year

By Elton Camp

A better year in my life I have never seen
Because, back then, I was only age fifteen
Nobody I knew had, at that time, ever died
Any problems of the...

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So there was black kid
His name was Vincent
Chubby and innocent
Intelligent, but belligerent
Aged 13, he had his first crush
Abigail, a white girl
Pigtails and eyes colored like clam pearls
Only conflict, her family was racist
Her older brother, Nathan,...

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Airy Wells and Emmett Street were working class kids,
Just shy of a high school diploma.
Airy’s mom had a habit of drinking too much.
Emmett’s father was fighting lymphoma.

Airy and Emmett had jobs after school,
And mostly just...

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for


             I

In the distance, the fading sun
bade adieu and slipped
behind the golden horizon;
the moon slowly sneaked 
from behind the ivory clouds and
greeted the...

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August 28th was a harrowing day,
The life of a black boy, taken away.
No justice was served to his killers,
The nation was shocked by his murder.

After being abducted by two white men,
He was repeatedly beaten and...

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Thank you Daddy for taking Jane and me to the circus


He took the bumps fast along Broadway; we giggled and laughed; it was a great day.

The bustle, the hustle, the poor old men.  I...

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Body left dissipated, obliterated,
oh Emmett Till,
Investigators could not tell if it was a human or mutilated road kill,
his eye was gouged from his head,
barbed wire tied around his neck,
all because a caucasian woman,
claimed she didn't...

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Chicago native Emmett Till would no longer be alive
after he was lynched in the state of Mississippi in 1955.
Till was on summer vacation in a village called Money.
It's located in the delta region of the...

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Mamie Till Mobley demanded and open casket,
to let the world see,
the bloated, beaten body of her baby boy,
who was lynched in Mississippi.

His name was Emmett Till,
a 14 year old black boy, 
who came from the...

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My mind cannot erase the memory of Emmett Till
I often dream about his badly-mutilated body –
The fourteen-year-old Black lad mercilessly beaten
To death … for ostensibly flirting with a white woman.
A victim of the era in...

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A complicated issue may often be better understood 
By breaking it down into a few undeniable facts. 
This is especially helpful with comprehending 
An issue that is new, or unfamiliar.
For example:
Thomas Jefferson was a famous...

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Born out on Highway 9 down in Corpus
Saw a mermaid in the gulf or maybe a porpoise
What a time at South Padre during Spring break
In Amarillo one time I tried to eat a giant steak

And...

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he placed his dreams on a Greyhound bus trip
headed west down that interstate highway
the nectar of labor beckoned his lips
fruit of the strangest kind graced the front page
signs more telling than the constitution
categorized this creation...

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Emmett was a man of malignant mien
The crazy son of his saint of a mother
A callous hooligan, cruel but keen
Acumen and class matched by no other

Drawn to the drink, and the roll of dice
His devilish...

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Fuzzy little balls of fur, 
 Sleep, stretch, then yawn.
Snuggle up to warmth, 
 and keep me up 'til dawn.

Eyes that are opening, 
 and at first they are blue.
Can't wait to see the final...

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Do you recall the song "Send In The Clowns" by Sinatra?

I reckon folks even heard it who reside in faraway Sumatra.

Long gone is famed Emmett Kelly who portrayed "Weary Willie",

And the great Red Skelton whose...

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These two are for Joseph and Idella, my mother's parents :
 
Sayings
Funny, southern
Attentive, inquiring, divulging
"Shut your mouth wide open!"
Mamaw
 
Vegetables
John Deere
Planting, fertilizing, watering
Working, filling the freezer
Papaw
 
These two are for Emmett and Lurlene, my father's...

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