Something as simple as walking Black in America can be a risk, especially for Black males. They are sometimes labeled as suspicious, not all the time, that’s why I said “sometimes.”
They can be harassed, singled out, targeted, stopped, questioned or even arrested just for being Black.
Suspicious can be considered as, walking Black, the type of clothes you’re wearing, your hairstyle, for walking in “their” neighborhood. I don’t know a single person who owns a “neighborhood,” but whatever. It can be if you’re walking in a group, walking by yourself, if you’re walking with your hands in your pockets, the time of day, the time of night, walking too fast, walking too slow, or even to meet a quota.
So keep in mind, while walking Black in America, you may be considered a “high risk,” and it’s a possibility you “might” get stopped, so I ask that you please be compliant.
Be safe, be careful, be vigilant, be blessed, be aware, but do not afraid.
And last but not least, Be Proud!
You have a right to walk, so walk with your head held High. Walk with Boldness, Walk with Confidence and Walk with Integrity, but do not walk in fear.
They say the news is a distraction
Yet anytime we see an issue and demand action
They call us a terrorist faction
We use our freedom of speech
Saying we wish to impeach
We all get singled out each by each
There was a private reception at the professor's house
Half a century ago for his senior-level creative writing poetry class
It was attended by the visiting poet, on campus at his invitation
The doctor's prescription for the nourishment of his fledglings
Some students were eager to share a few lines with the guest of honor
But there was a quiet one hanging about the periphery, alone in thought
Not one who who sought an audience with the Master, with the Elder
As the evening wore on some nibbled, some scribbled
Some continued to pursue the Poet
But the quiet one kept largely to himself, lost in thought
Or maybe… just lost
And as the soiree drew to a close the Poet approached him
He said, "Is something troubling you?"
"Oh… not really," he responded, unconvincingly
"Well…" the Poet said, "You've got a lot to do in this life,
But you're gonna do it good."
The quiet one thanked him, smiled,
And thought about grammatic structure, poetic lisence, and why he'd been singled out
And he thought about all those things that were really troubling him
Courage, encourage, discourage
Word he'd… worried
I see myself as fair and helpful
a friendly ally... so I'm surprised
to see me singled out and
ostracized from your bubble.
Perhaps I've insulted you
by not agreeing with your views
though I've gone out of my way
to be diplomatic and polite.
Perhaps I've not lavished you
with honours when judging
my contests with blind impartiality
and that displeased you enormously.
Perhaps I've given you a suggestion
to consider ways to improve your poem
and you assumed I showed arrogance
and deserve to be cut out of your circle.
I'll never know the reasons that justify
why I've been singled out and ostracized
and you obviously have no intention
to discuss or reconsider ~ it’s your call.
So be it ~
AP: 1st place 2025
Business
In singled hour resignations letter documented and also documents retrieve towards poverty's laws
As a poor man's writing ledgers.
#realdonaldtrump #cagovernor #asmirwin #mikeytaylor #repbrownley #tonybiasotti #washingtonpost #nytimes #latimes #aoc
There she stood with tears rolling down her face and cheeks
Looking downward – such innocence – mild and meek
Her first trip to the slaughter house was no joke
Proved to be a one-sick hoax!
Slowly but surely – she told us the story
Leaving out NOT the gory!
“I was asked by dad
To join him fast
To pick out a chicken
“O Good Riddens!
At last – no fret
I’m picking out my very first pet!”
Is what I thought
When my breath I caught!
So, with joy in my heart,
And exuberant glee at start
I singled out the healthiest plump!
The attendant let out a little grunt
Roughly taking the chicken outback
She grunted sternly: ‘Wait Right here…I’ll be right back!’
With one quick twist
Of her hand and wrist
The chicken’s neck she snapped in half.
Mortified I stood on the chicken’s behalf!
Speechless, I stood - so panic-stricken
Horrified and mortified because of the chicken!
With no further delay
To my dismay
I was handed a bag
While the attendant let out a mischievous laugh!
From this day forward, I shall live to fret
Of what occurred to my chicken-pet
And live forever with my regret
Of visiting the Old Chicken Coup
All for mom’s LIVE Chicken Soup…?
Do I exist, do I matter, am I garbage/
A voice whispers in my soul's dark passage/
I am a person too with feelings that swell/
Deserving as much as the rest of you/
Can't you tell/
Isolation is no fun, a cruel sentence/
Ostracized, I stand in my own defense/
Singled out in unjust hate, I ponder/
Why do they deem me garbage, I wonder/
I've done nothing wrong/
Just tried to be me/
But hatred blinds those who refuse to see/
In a world that should cherish/
Uplift, embrace/
The poison of hate/
Turns it to a desolate place/
Together we stand/
Though many are apart/
Healing begins when love fills the heart/
Break the chains it creates/
And build a world/
Where compassion radiates/
Passing years and Google
I wonder how old one has to be to have a dignified life, Google wants to re-identify myself
It appears there are many of me
They sent me a form where I have to place figures where they sit and move around
the problem is my eyesight is not good after
all at 86 six I’m not a Falk-eyed Indian
How this test can prove whether I’m me and not a company I don’t know
As it is I can’t log into X where I have 200 followers, which at my age is encouraging that there are people who like my view about politics and life in general
Old age is not for the insipid, we who are classified as old suffer joint pains and have legs unwilling to carry us around
Our minds are not as old as our bodies we have tons of experience to divulge, the politics of today have happened before, we know
Is there or should, there be a cutoff point to life
Say at 75 but we old think 75 is young, I even had girlfriends back then, who thought I was handsome; they should see me now!
I feel resentful, that Google in its hunt for
Fake accounts have singled me out after twenty years of loyal service
Turning to merge with the happy
herd,
I heard clinking against frosty
glass --
Ladyfingers escaping tiramisu,
Followed by creamy swirls of
Chocolate mousse --
And beckoned to their shelf, I
asked
If they desired of me to have a
word.
A dolce chorus of confections
confessed
How to my hips they wished to
bestow
Love handles destined to be
caressed
Through the streets of the Feast
Of San Gennaro.
(c) 2024 Gabriela
City life, for kids, before the onslaught of helicopter parents and mandatory parental involvement in every aspect of growing up. We played baseball, no umpires, the bases pieces of cardboard, scratched in dirt, or chalked on the pavement. Four neighborhoods abutted each other. We, the children of the game, formed teams, formed an impromptu “league”. On one of these occasions when a game was “scheduled” team A came up short of the mandatory nine. Team B would allow one of its players to play for team A. The proof that this did not hurt team A’s chances of winning became evident the day Billie, (we’ll call her Billy to protect the legend), came to bat in the last inning and singled home the winning run for team A.
After the game Billie walked home with the rest of our team. She looked a bit sheepish and we did sort of give her the business. We all knew it didn’t matter which team you played for because the game demanded you play your best and hold your head high in both victory and defeat.
In realms of regal radiance, I stand,
Embraced by whispered legends, a chosen hand.
A tapestry divine, my lineage does unfold,
For within my veins, noble secrets are told.
Cloaked in treasures rare, I step with grace,
A million faces, yet I’m singled out in space.
Bathed in blessings pure, bestowed upon my soul,
Destiny ordained, like jewels that brightly glow.
In life's boot camp, I've trained with utmost devotion,
Embracing challenges, fueled by an inner ocean.
Effortlessly, I conquer shadows that I find,
Emerging victorious, with strength defined.
A gilded aura cloaks my every stride,
Captivating gazes from those who peer inside.
From twisted corners, eyes in wonder stare,
Transfixed by beauty's spell, beyond compare.
Candy-coated hues adorn my very being,
Anointed with a brilliance, forever freeing.
For I am but a star, traversing heavens high,
A symphony of majesty, painting the sky.
One in a million, a walking sovereignty divine,
Illuminating paths, with love as my design.
With each step I take, my spirit's truth unfurls,
A poet's heart, my words a canvas of worlds.
Birthdays were always shared.
Two cakes sat mid-table,
‘Happy Birthday’ was sung
with two names instead of one.
I did not like being a twin,
having a sister the same age,
always being labeled more
as a composite, having
a shared identity, a part
instead of being a whole.
I felt as if I was diluted.
I did not like the fuss,
being different than the other
boys who blended seamlessly
together at school when I
was singled out. My sister
was the devout one,
unquestioning whilst I
was the opposite, the dark
shadow in contrast to her light.
My world was an unlit room.
It was so for most of our lives,
obedience versus rebellion,
extrovert versus introvert,
traditionalist versus radical,
she a lover of boundaries
whereas I busted far too many.
My sister has been dead now
for a decade. I miss her,
my dear twin,
the counterbalance to me.
How could it happen? Why does it flow? Cancer causing
Chemicals in Aussie water the news now bellows.! It can't
Be just by accident.' Like the plan-demic was' they say..?
I guess it's been added.? Yet W H O; would do such hey?
Another nudge to wake you up.? Well it is if you'll hearken
To me.!! I've told you now for nearly three years you're
The target of some rich old; nazis.! You are singled out
I have no doubt.' Take note..And break yourselfs free.'!
From the ties to an 'old lost europe' show them from now
The fair, brave (free Australia) I know you are destined for'
And are so well suited to be.!!
Oily sky, weightless portals
of slipstream bubbles in a fluid -
superhighway of a different means.
Effortless, my travel, everywhere at once,
like a cat after a string.
A scattergory of movement in instant summation.
Summoned by the reading of uncategorized belief.
Where what is possible is aspired to will,
like "Tom Sawyer" in a Rush song.
Looking for
that Sprite of Strange Wings
under moonlit skies.
She
will evade me no longer
in her Black Mamba mean streaks
of hide and seek.
She has singled me out to double since before the beginning of Time
and this pervading trouble she holds aloft.
I feel like ten feet thick lead,
laden with the now,
and quickened like an inertial flow
in which we trough.
In her presents -
she is leading with carrot to know, for sure,
That I will love her forever.
Then, she will show,
her smile reuknighted
to my soul's oath of capture.
They're people not animals
Not to be singled out
Because of the life they
Choose to live, not living
A life that goes by other
People standards, LGBTQ
People has been around when
I was a small child, it's now that
They're not afraid to be who
They truly are, it's their life
Stop the hate and leave them alone
Some parents want a scape goat
When I was young, there was a child
He would always play with the girls
And not the boys, even back then
He use to act like a girl and
He had five brothers who tried to
Force him to be a boy but it didn't work
He grew up being the same way he acted
As a young boy
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