Rights poems explore what people should be able to claim, exercise, or protect within a shared society. A voice denied, an opportunity withheld, or a person insisting on fair treatment can give an abstract principle a human setting.
Browse the examples below and consider which right or responsibility the poem examines. Notice who speaks and whose experience is overlooked. Specific scenes can make a demand for dignity or freedom understandable without reducing the people involved to a single issue.
They call her a child,
then call her a bride,
put religion on the lips
of the men who decide.
Men built these walls,
men wrote these ways,
then mothers defend their sons
and blame girls for the flames.
The son can do anything,
the daughter must pay,
her body can break,
but his name must stay.
Her blood means nothing,
her health means less,
they call her a woman
when they need her to bear the stress.
And those “innocent” mothers,
so righteous, so wise,
will forgive every sin
when their precious son lies.
But let a girl speak once,
let a woman say “no,”
and suddenly she’s shameless,
disgraceful, a foe.
So don't call it sacred.
Don't call it fate.
Say no to the system
that sanctifies their shame.
OFFICER,
I dress in black because
colors don't work for me,
and I wear my mask in public
to keep my privacy.
There's no privacy in public
unless you make it clear,
so I lawfully create my own
whenever I'm out here.
I wear a body cam
so everything stays straight,
for truth, foe accountability,
for anyone I may face.
I've committed no crime
so my ID stays with me,
and I don't consent to searches or seizure
of my person or my property.
Thanks to Attorney Shield
my lawyer soon will be
right on my phone's screen
standing by to speak for me.
So Officer, respectfully,
Here's how I'd like to proceed:
Anything you have to say to me,
Please address to my attorney.
One nation shall declare death penalty as righteous and just. Not on gender or belonging to the third sex as a crime as disclosed and implemented sometime ago.
The weird part is, it will not be by lethal injection or electrocution... rather by crucifixion.
The writ barks
and bellows diktat
iron cudgel poised
to macerate multitudes
for the folly
of one man
who sings flat
plays his game
amid howling hordes
and rises valiant
in the storm.
I am a daughter.
I am a wife.
I am a mother.
Yes, I am a woman—
the creator of life,
the one who gives birth to an entire generation.
But beyond these relationships,
do I have an identity of my own?
As a daughter, I am expected to sacrifice.
As a wife, I am expected to compromise.
As a mother, I am expected to give endlessly.
Everyone sees the relationships I carry,
but who sees the woman behind those relationships?
Why must my identity always begin with
“someone’s daughter,”
“someone’s wife,”
or “someone’s mother”?
I was not born merely to fulfil roles.
I was born to live, to dream, to choose,
and to create an identity of my own.
It is time for women to step beyond the boundaries
that society has created for them.
Let us recognise our own worth,
raise our voices,
follow our dreams,
and build our own identity.
I am a woman.
I am not someone’s shadow.
I am an identity in my own right.
And now, it is time for every woman to say:
“Know me not only by the relationships I carry,
but by the person I am.”
The shadows are as yellow
As bloom as the grey
As dark as the meadow
As gloom as the wave
As light as the crow
Through drunken haze
And as white as the terror
When put to the chase
The sounds are as silent
As whispering as the trees
As loud as the tired
As quiet as the screams
As wailing as the leaf
Through highpitched ear’s screech
And as quiet as still
When the end meets the leech
The tastes are as bleak
As dull as the fruit
As sour as leaf
As honeyed as soot
As tangy as the peak
As sharp as the root
And so is the blade
I am no brute
The stenches are as honey
As sweet as the hay
As bland as the berry
As foul as the bay
As sour as dairy
Through the incense, heavy
And as sour as what’s underneath
When the dirt is no longer empty
The forest is harp
As metal as twigs
As hard as carp
As soft as sticks
Yet under my feet, sharp
And as such is my overwhelming belief
He - ‘ it ‘ won’t be missed, in the depths of a scarp
I have a molten hatred
And I ooze contempt for you
My mission it is sacred
And I will see it through.
I'll devote my hours to see
That you don't get no rest
All will know your depravity
From East into the West
I'll keep you down I'll whack the mole
wherever your raise your head
I'll shrink your space, compress your soul
But your blood I won't shed.
We will steer your life, suppress your goals
You talk of rights, how quaint
Your ship will founder on the shoals
You'll fade away, like rusted paint
And there's a climax we have planned
A final horror show
Can't alarm you much, can't show our hand
Keep going with the flow.
You don't know our names
You don't even know the reasons why
You call us petty, invoke shame
But we will laugh, and you will cry.
.
tuh step out
uv
mine free'tuh
hut
touch thuh flowerz
purty
tuh step out
uv
mine free'tuh
shanty
feel rain 'pon mine
flesh
tuh step out
uv
mine free'tuh
sequestered
truly woo thuh sum
we
Her kind named her weak, a flaw—night.
Disposable, bone-thin, unblessed—night.
Fate left her cracked on hostile stone,
under an alien, starving sky—night.
No bright warriors came, no oath, no tone;
only a human, half-dead, drawn—night.
He lifted her onto his back,
and would not set her down—night.
They crossed poison deserts, copper-dry;
lungs burning on each stolen breath—night.
Fire-storms tore their borrowed shelter,
ash kissing lips like quiet death—night.
They threaded empire-ruins, iron-mouthed,
where old crowns rusted into blight—night.
Survival hardened into trust,
a gentle chain in gritted fight—night.
Loyalty grew fanged; mercy grew wings;
their shadows braided tight—night.
Maybe love, dangerous and clean,
took root in scars, in shared fright—night.
Then the twist: he was her rescue.
She was his sentence, his light—night.
I can't stand a food fanatic
They dine at my house, and want gluten free
I just smile and look enigmatic
Ignoring their wishes doesn't bother me.
For the vegans, I include an egg
For vegetarians, I sprinkle in beef
For teetotalers, I use beer from a keg
If they knew, they'd punch me in the teeth.
But why should I humor a food fanatic
Why should I waste precious cooking time
They're all nuts, like my aunt in the attic
Wasting good food is to me a crime.
I'm a meat and potatoes guy myself
Dunkin Doughnuts and McDonalds are good enough for me
A couple of drinks haven't ruined my health
Why should I honor their idiocy?
But I raise a question, because I must
Should we respect nonsense requests?
Are we betraying a trust
Or encouraging people to be pests?
Truthfully I'm a food fanatic
This whole poem is just a lie
I've weak, even my walk is erratic
But I'll stick with my diet, don't ask me why.
The wise often say,
what goes around comes around—
circles keep their word
one kindness completes a round,
returning on next cycle.
Bad karma lingers
only while the lesson sleeps—
turn the wheel with care,
one kind act with open arms
can loosen yesterday's knots.
Gaia watches still—
not with anger, nor with praise,
but with patient roots—
every footprint, every deed,
done with care, reaps worthy praise.
SLAMDUNKING POLITICAL POWER MONGERING
A country founded to escape royal oppressive ruling,
Now seeks to become greater than its motherland was:-
In doing so, the present-day POTUS has finally discovered
He cannot constitutionally take away legal voting rights:-
However, he’s attempting to stack his deck illegally to do so,
Via an unjust constitutional amendment called Redistricting:-
This oppressive amendment would reduce oppositional voting power;
Thus, in opposition to this red-decking, it’s time to slam-dunk our trump cards!
NO TITLE
If I was a girl in this modern world, I shoot for this stars the first woman on mars, a doctor a lawyer, a CEO. Education and hard work, my ticket to the show. Nothing could stop me, but that's half the tail. The other half has a different pay scale.
Relentless, pervasive, there's nowhere to hide. If I were a man, I'd blacken that eye. How long can I run? Barely living in fear. What will he do next? I cannot work here. Where can I go? I can not give in. He'll just keep pushing, again and again.
It's the same everyplace. It's not what I saw. Dreams became nightmares, escaping their claws. Head on a swivel. What did I hear? On every last front, year after year. If I want to move up, then I've got to play, if it's not that, there's glass in the way.
We have to do better, If we call ourselves men. this can not go on. It's time to step in. We start with our boys, we take on our kin. Protecting women is what makes us men. don't let them whisper that snyde innuendo. Confront and demean him, toss him out of the window. I don't care what it takes, if it's something you do, Get your boot off her neck. We're coming for you.
Who am I rooting for?
Everyone Black of course,
I am pro-black -
And against anything anti-black.
First and foremost,
Are my people,
EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.
The whole diaspora -
It doesn’t matter where you are from,
I love my people,
I’ll never stop,
No matter the nationality,
I am pro-black,
Black people have my heart,
I love us no matter what.
Who am I rooting for?
Everyone Black of course,
We are family,
Even if we are oceans apart,
Whether young or old,
Light or dark,
My people - they have my heart
We only have each other,
And that is all we need,
We may agree to disagree,
On many different things - but that's what happens when your family,
Through thick and thin, we are a tight knit community.
They told you, "You deserve a speedy trial,
On you no scrum of jackals pile
They said you'd know each charge they bring,
And as for rights, every man a king.
They told you that your speech was free,
That you could choose your company.
Your home's your castle, safe and firm,
And you can keep what you can earn.
You believed that Karma's true
Built in the rules, silly you.
For government is not the only throne;
The crowd can have a heart of stone.
No judge need speak, no law be bent—
Your rights can die by mere consent.
In other spheres, rules not applied
The door to slavery is open wide.
Rights Categories
Definition | What is Rights in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.
Related Poetry Forms
authority, benefit, business, claim, equal rights, feminism, freedom, immunity, independence, integrity, interest, license, power, priority