Stage 4 silenceDiagnosis:stage 4 silence
Treatment:a kinder world (one where racism doesn't exist)
Cure:unknown
Lifespan:1-5 years, if that
Symptoms:
? a silenced voice
? being black
? loss of control over body autonomy
? racism
? microaggressions
? discrimination
? stolen childhood
? stolen innocence
The cancerous silence had spread through her body
She had tried to tell the doctors and nurses
They called her dramatic
With...
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Categories:
race, death, discrimination, health, prejudice,
Form: Free verse
When our joy became a weapon for themOur pleasure is political
Our presence anarchy
Our smile a rebellion
Our hair A revolution
Our blood our fire
Our blackness A force to be reckoned with
Our joy to them is a declaration of war
Our resilience an act of political warfare
Our resilience a threat to the system of oppression they built
They don't like when we take...
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Categories:
discrimination, jealousy, prejudice, race,
Form: Free verse
My blood, my comfortShe always hated the sight of blood
But now it had become her greatest comfort
She felt her blood was the only one who understood
What it was like to be judged
Both hated on for their colour
Both wanting to be hidden
Both wanting to be invisible
Each cut sent waves of euphoria throughout her body
She wasn't a masochist...
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Categories:
race, depression, discrimination, mental health,
Form: Free verse
The blurred lines between childhood and adulthoodWhen the lines are blurred
How can we tell who we are anymore
How do we know when innocence begins and when it ends
Or if it ever really happened
At all
This was not everyone's experience
But it was black children's
For a black boy who had to be a man
Before he could be a child...
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Categories:
children, corruption, prejudice, race,
Form: Free verse
When racism met suicideScars fade but trauma doesn't
She wished it was the the other way round
At least then she wouldn't be haunted by the memories
Maybe the cuts wouldn't hurt as much
Maybe she wouldn't have done it at all
Each tear was another cut
Each cut made her numb
She didn't want people to see her cry she thought Her...
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Categories:
bullying, prejudice, race, racism,
Form: Free verse
The blood they spilled that couldn't be removedHe was strong in life
But even stronger in death
He refused to be forgotten
So he stained the pavement in his blood
A haunting reminder of what was done
His blood spoke more than words could
It's echo mourned his childhood
To his friends and family he was the embodiment of love
To the system they called him a thug
How can that...
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Categories:
race, discrimination, innocence, mother son,
Form: Free verse
RACE OVER HUMANITYThey speak of humanity in colours
Black as night, pale as bone
Silver like moonlight, gold like the sun
As if the sun warms one side more than the other.
With free hands they drew maps
Carved mountains, split rivers
Crowned some as kings of dust
Left others to beg beneath their feet.
But what is race, really?
Is it not just a shadow...
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Categories:
12th grade, humanity, race,
Form: Free verse
The scars they left usHe reflected on the life he had lived
Staring out the window watching his kids with his grandkids
They were his greatest gifts
He also felt this quiet melancholy of putting them in a position
To survive In a world filled with racists
He hoped they would outlive him
He hoped he would end up in a casket...
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Categories:
race, discrimination, granddaughter, grandfather, prejudice,
Form: Free verse
The case of lynching vs suicideThe case of lynching vs suicide
A black man
Hangs
Lifeless
Silent
Eerie
The only sound
Is the wind thrashing around
As it surrounds
The black man
Screaming loud
Trying to get the man to make a sound
The wind howled
In pain
In agony
Watching as the whole town
Laughing like he was some kind of clown
The police never showed
In the...
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Categories:
political, prejudice, race, racism,
Form: Free verse
They laughed at our painA circus act
A puppet
A clown
When you think of these you think of a
Performance
Or even entertainment
You think of
Comedy
You think of
Jokes
You think of
Laughter
So what happens When you become the butt of the joke
Where they are not laughing with you
But at you
Not because you're funny
But because of what's being done to you
Oh you don't know
Well...
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Categories:
discrimination, murder, prejudice, race,
Form: Free verse
The violence You greeted us withWould it be safer to be born as a white person
In a world that worships them
What would it take for the world to accept black
When we have always been treated as less than
What would the world look like if we chose peace
Where our hands connect in the name of justice
But you don't want...
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Categories:
evil, jealousy, prejudice, race,
Form: Free verse
When the church said pray it awayWhen the church said pray it away
When the church said pray it away
To the elderly woman
Who lost her whole family
Not from just a gun
But from the system holding one
She had prayed
And prayed
And prayed
For her family's safety
And do you know what God did
He committed the ultimate sin
He killed them
But
It was...
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Categories:
depression, god, prejudice, race,
Form: Free verse
Black without a maskBlack without a mask
What would it look like to be black without a mask?
Would it look like freedom?
Or would they laugh?
At our attempt to be ourselves
To feel like we can tell the world
That we are fighting back
That we are tired of being attacked
That we are human and you should respect that
Maybe it would feel like...
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Categories:
race, emotions, freedom, metaphor, prejudice,
Form: Free verse
A eulogy for the me I had to kill to surviveA eulogy for the me I had to kill to survive
She lay in a casket
I was the killer
But was it really me?
When the world gripped her hand and told her to kill her blackness
She stared in a mirror
Full of sadness
Knowing she would kill her last bit of innocence
So did I...
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Categories:
race, betrayal, funeral, grief, prejudice,
Form: Free verse
The cold handShe just wanted help drowning
Everytime she tried speaking
It felt like a cold hand gripping her throat
It felt like racism breathing silence in her mouth
To other It looked like she had been saved
But she knew she had been condemned
To a life without freedom
She couldn't pretend
She didn't want her life to end
She wanted an out
And maybe the...
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Categories:
race, death, discrimination, mental health,
Form: Free verse
Specific Types of Race Poems
Definition | What is Race in Poetry?
Poems Related to Race
bolt, breed, chase, color, compete, competition, contention, contest, course, culture, dart, dash, event, family, gallop, hurry, hustle, marathon, match, nationoffspring, people, progeny, racism, relay, run, rush, scamper, scramble, species, sprint, sprint, tribe,