What is it I wonder you don’t want us to see
that you don’t want included in the story
do you think just because
your big smelly marker says
permanent ink that it
can cover up history
Why are you so scared
that someone might care
about the true version
of how the past
should be told or how
the future might unfold
Did you think with a stroke
you can cross out the hopes
of generations
who came and went
or maybe prevent those
who have yet to dream
their dreams
Just because you erase the words
does not mean
we can’t be heard
because we can scream louder
than you can whine
we’ve done it since
the beginning of time
Categories:
oppressed, political,
Form: Free verse
Venezuela people felt powerless
for over twenty years
no one wanted to step up
until someone did
taking the risk of being jailed or killed
unsure of the outcome
but unwilling to be oppressed one more day
people saw this leader and took to the streets
demanding change, demanding justice
demanding a new outcome, a new Venezuela
one voice became many
Categories:
oppressed, international,
Form: Prose Poetry
Black folk kept in sad condition
By owners without contrition.
What to do, what to do?
Wage war for emancipation
And forge a fresh slave-free nation.
The Forrest-Byrd Klan and Jim Crow
Surely are the ones you should stow –
What to do, what to do?
They rule and oppress your city
Blame them not ones who set you free!
Martin loved character content
With black and white talents lent
What to do, what to do?
Stevie and Paul in unity
Played in sweet keyboard harmony.
Smooth Barack cooed high in A sharp
As Hillary lowed in B flat
What to do, what to do?
So white folks, none playing a harp,
Chose the black, how racist was that?
Oppressed rainbow coalition -
All races rate full admission.
What to do, what to do?
Name trophy oppressor maestros
Amin, Mao, Adolf, and Castro.
Critical race theory, woke
Marxist, oppressive and no joke!
What to do, what to do?
Its rancid retro racist sin
Embalmed in landfill would fit in.
Categories:
oppressed, music, political, race, relationship,
Form: Rhyme
'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me',
Isaiah foretold, 'He's anointed me
to bring relief to the poor,
to show captives the door,
the blind to see and the oppressed set free.'
Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down.
“Today this text has been fulfilled be it known.”
“Is not this Joseph's son?
How can such deeds be done?”
“No prophet's is welcome in his home town.”
Luke 4.16-24
Categories:
oppressed, bible, gospel, jesus, poverty,
Form: Limerick
We all know 'America' is classed as the land of the free
But any country can only be so, if it includes you and thee
Just like life is, irrespective of your circumstances, they be
For no one should be oppressed, in stone scribed, decreed
But sadly this doesn't happen, be it in many walks of life
To being badgered in your workplace, or on the way home
Even amidst relationships, when actions become traction
No wonder minds become stressed in endless lost roam
Sadly amidst life and it's walkways, canals, motorways, mm
It'll always surface crawling to it's cringe-worthy extreme
Then there's suppression, be we you, us, she or them, him
For whence anger commits, thence throws, becomes, bedlam!
Sirens!
Categories:
oppressed, abuse, age, angst, bullying,
Form: Rhyme
Learn to do right;
Seek peace and don’t fight;
In every avenue that you choose;
Adopt peace, choose life;
Go with love be in the light;
Seek justice
You are so blessed
Please encourage the oppressed
Pray for them,
Aid to set them free
Isaiah One seventeen says
Learn to love
Love to learn
Seek wisdom not hate and strife
Give to live, that you will check that everything wrongs not right;
Learn to do right;
Seek peace and don’t fight;
In every avenue that you choose
Seek justice encourage the oppressed
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2007, 2020©
Categories:
oppressed, analogy, blessing, caregiving,
Form: Lyric
Their bodies stumble
through the dark,
No mist of air to keep them high...
No circling the beaten ground tonight.
Voices won’t sing,
they will not feed
on single bough of welted tree
this day.
No, not today, not later . Perhaps
when evening comes again,
someone would offer
a morsel of rice on paper; and angels
will bless their clipped wings,
to live decently free!
..................................
Written for Richard Lamoureux's PEOPLE Contest
12.11.2017
Categories:
oppressed, discrimination, people,
Form: Free verse
I wish to be a poet, like Oscar
I’ve got so much passion in me, it’s pain
I long to take an adventure; wander
I’ve got the world in my heart- unashamed
Sometimes I wake up, and swear I can fly
I wish but to experience my life
How could I leave my heart to be denied?
Balance me on the tip of your dulled knife
Caress my scars, and scream at me in vain
I need to feel my heart fill, then break
Tether me to a line, sever the chain
I won’t give you my soul, it’s mine to take
I need to drive too recklessly; faster
My trust is in my heart, my heart mastered
-s.c.n.
Categories:
oppressed, adventure, passion,
Form: Sonnet
The Oppressed
Time is churning us in a mass of confusion
But something is forever the need to side with the downtrodden.
Two of my uncles, ordinary working class lad,
Spent time in jail and tortured because they helped the Jews
because they were in need.
Israel today doesn`t want or any use for men without education
Help was not political it was just human.
When I see the endless cruelty committed by Israel, I take side
With the Palestine people and try if not by heroic deeds but by words
To help the oppressed people, not for a political agenda
But a human one.
Categories:
oppressed, city, class, community,
Form: Blank verse
The oppressed
It was twilight mist hung over the valley when I saw the big horse
on a knoll was a warrior, a charger, looking toward the east.
I mounted, and we flew to the land of hatred, the mount neighed
stamped its hooves ready for battle.
When the soldiers, who’s moral had become rancid, saw us two,
they throw weaponry away fled to the silent fortification and wailed
in terror, for the first time in 70 years there was peace.
The store- keeper soul, of the enemy of concord, wasn`t happy there
were murmurs in the ranks, they had wanted a higher percentage.
I was standing by a yellow sandstone rock, dreaming the impossible,
it is the only future the hassled people have, for now, but are patient
and will never leave their beloved land
Categories:
oppressed, arabic, art, assonance,
Form: Sonnet
VITUPERATIONS OF AN OPPRESSED MAN
Heaven will not smile on your home
Neither will the sun rise in your dome
For you have crossed my zone
And indeed crushed my bone
You fed me with doom
Just because my land is rising in boom
For almost two hundred and ninety nine nights
And extended to this night
My sprouts have not seen a bright light
You forced me out of my comfort zone
And make my kids prisoner of conscience
And lynch them with weapon of science
You cart away my wives’ brocade
By using religion as façade
Hence carry out your gruesome carnage
You pounced on villagers with no exemption to town dwellers
My city is not safe
Neither is the dwellers saved
I cannot compete with you
Neither can I combat you
What I’m left with is to beg you
To leave my land now
For the night is near
And the nemesis is close
Because the stage is set
And you shall face the music
Categories:
oppressed, anger,
Form: Elegy
I will strive to remain cool headed and sane,
though many things are making me to go the other way,
Several appeals and resistance have been in vain,
Many times I remain bemused not knowing what to say.
Wastage and greed by the leading class I can no longer endure,
Severe hardship has made the weak to be relegated,
Poverty and disease ravage and life is no longer secure,
Honesty and unfaithfulness cannot be segregated.
In my dreams,I hear voices of many youths weeping,
To liberate the poor from this mess,I will fight,
I can`t live with this or leave this floor without sweeping,
Plenty homes have turned into graveyards which is not right.
Tiny few wallow in wealth,while plenty are being oppressed,
I would do anything to protect them ,say...I`m obsessed.
*Inspired by the song of Meat Loaf "I would do anything for love"*
CONTEST:"Songs of Poetry" sponsored by Debbie Guzzi.
Categories:
oppressed, passion, political,
Form: Sonnet
each stroke of greased fingers on the mohawk
was a result of a genius work of art
an outlet where my soul barely peeks
yet you cut with your hypocritical shears and your rusty hand
and you call it discipline
and you call it concern
I call it ********
the shadows on my
eyelids were davincis and picassos
sketched in a magnificent representation
of inner self which you all want to see
yet suffocate by your rotten curricula
and you call it quality
and you call it excellence
I call it ********
the silver that glitters in these ears
conceals the tortures of my youth
the horrors that dwell in my every sleep
yet you rip from my skin you are unworthy of touch
and you call it decency
and you call it suitability
I call it ********
An Entrant into SKAT ACE's POEMS OF ATTITUDE Contest
Categories:
oppressed, angst,
Form: Verse
Feelthe love and feel the pain, as i walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, entangled with evils that possesed. Making my life such a mess i could
not find a methodology that could justify such a tragedy, developing my life into
such a misery, lost in the wilderness & looking for harmony. Please allow me to
give you some of my insanity what relevance it may have is beyond me. Looking
over my shoulders at times that are best, who will be my saviour and sweet
caress & wipe away the prolonged misery. Perhaps love is the only thing that can
save me, or is it the only remedy is blissful insanity ?
Categories:
oppressed, confusion, love, peace, life,
Form: Carpe Diem