What have you done to me
Where was the girl
That tried to climb the cliff
Despite unfavourable conditions in there.
Why did the peak broke off
When were you seen
That made me believe in flame again
Even the one my kin couldn’t .
Who are you for real
Which gave hope for ice
That it could have an identity in sea
Although it gulped me down.
We speak of women,
yet they are beaten by men.
On the Cape Flats,
some are treated like rats.
Bruises hidden behind closed doors,
daily terror scrubbed from floors.
Some stay silent, pain held in,
others speak—then try to win.
A drunk husband counts her bones,
breaks them as if they were stones.
She loves her children, hates his hands,
waits for freedom, carefully planned.
She waits until the children go,
then leaves the man she’s come to know.
Enough is enough—her day arrives.
She walks away and saves her life.
Maybe it’s a guy thing,
But who wouldn’t prefer dangerous freedom
To peaceful slavery?
Well it turns out a majority of humanity wouldn’t.
When it comes to the choice
Of red pill vs blue pill
Most choose blue’s comfort of the known.
But in reality only those who can even see the red one
Ever get that choice,
For the vast majority the choice is made for them.
Made at birth,
As they are placed in the life-sucking pod,
Or made somewhere along the line
When the insecurities of life simply overwhelm.
The pod is always waiting after all,
Warm and secure and well contained.
What it lacks in charm
It makes up for in a beautiful dream,
Until it’s not.
But by then it’s too late
Too late to know the difference,
Too late to make a change.
Dangerous freedom meanwhile,
Likewise is not what it seems.
Because the risk is all,
The danger is welcomed
As just part of the scene.
(9/5/26)
Just touch these hairs in the back of my neck
i will see your face and pray you are just the last
next to my bed, here you are reaching out,
stop touching me i am not yours!!
Take your clothes off and come to bed!
don't be so shy you are a good buy,
not as expensive as free voices,
not as cheap as kiss without thick lip,
color is my choice my blindness doesn't know.
Who are you let me touch your wrist
thin or thick i don't care at all who are you,
can i hear your voice just one time,
yes master I'm all yours let this be the lesson,
mute i might be, deaf it is what you are.
This is what the dream is all about,
if you scream i know because i can feel,
go ahead put your hand on my lips,
count the words on by one,
it feels like the first time,
white on black in the cotton fields.
Will anyone be responsible,
who will pay, the scars are too deep,
another 200 hundred years,
maybe than justice will prevail
until then mute it is my best pill.
HOPE
HOPE
thin light
gracile flame
27 years in stone
cold air danced on the floor
he smiled through broken prison glass
"hope survives even in the smallest cell"
Just care about degrees
Can’t see others at ease
For you, it sounds fun
But for me, so done.
Abject behemoths, conniving destructive existence... Fomenting
grave hazardous intent.. Jeopardising... Knowingly... Loathsome
manipulative numbing objectionable practices... Questionably
raising substantial theoretical unsustainable visions...Weird
xenobots yielding zootoxins
The colonial masters have gone
Our self-crowned kings rule now
Citizens have gone skin and bone
Like animals we exist somehow
Just to advise its still alive, and satan is its driver, with commoditys and convenience he plys.' Consider to ask
Jesus into your hearts, there is no need for physical travel.' Just open your ears
Mind; and heart..To end your own captivity' is how it it must start.' There is
No statement of dignatarys that even get a 'bit part' i suggest look around see all the money and time
wasted on different wars; that
Are touted to be for peace.? Which one of
Us sees that from our own to distant shores.' No the war is within us..And we alone cannot win.! We need the King of the universe's remedy or we will ever wallow in un-numbered human degrees of
Sin. Call out to ' your maker ' His Name runs through your dna..He sent Jesus on
That misson whose blood is still active
to the last person, up to the very final day.'
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.
(a series of Senryu poems)
We no longer own
our music or software, we
we rent them - subscribe
Think streaming music,
productivity software,
like 365.
A company can
make one product and never
innovate again.
Once, you’d buy software
and they’d have to win your bucks
with something improved
But now you fee pay
monthly, forever - or you
lose that whatever.
Homes are out of reach
so people rent apartments,
Ubers replace cars
Think of subscriptions
as techo slavery, we
need alternatives
None of us can change
the housing situation
unless we team up
And elect people
who aren’t total thieves and fools
enriching themselves
It’s a crazy thought,
I know - are we capable
of it anymore?
.
.
A song for this
Touristy Places by Paul Russell
The revolution has started, but the world doesn't see.
Everybody is unmasking on side of me.
The vision is clear, so let us explain.
No more hurting our people, putting us to shame.
The harder you look, the more powerful we become.
Pay attention to our minds just as well as to our guns.
Not aiming to shoot but to send a message,
To combat the ones who kill for perfection.
Our minds will talk; it's the first line of defense
As we stand together, inch by inch.
So take time, realize, step back, and take a seat.
The Black Panthers will revolutionize every wrong movement on the street.
They say:
Savages.
Savages.
SA-VA-GES.
We say:
Hypocrites.
Hypocrites.
HYP-O-CRITES.
Moral olympics were never your event -
To participate,
In.
You don’t get a say -
When your words ooze with hypocrisy,
There is no democracy,
In the role you had to play,
In BLACK BRUTALITY.
You live in glass houses,
Throwing stones will break your walls of security,
You don’t get to call us savages -
When you, yourselves are defined by hypocrisy.
Superiority has never existed in your DNA,
When inferiority is the price you pay -
For generational jealousy
Your irrationality,
Blinds your capability -
To see,
The irony -
That the fingers you point, are facing your way
It’s a past that America likes hiding
for it’s ugly and dirty and true
How they tried to enslave all the Natives
but from failure, the new slave trade grew
Then the colonists bought kidnapped Africans
like you purchase a cow or a bull
They stocked-up in an auction for people
til the slave master’s house became full
Then the new race was quickly created
as the slave masters all had their way
For they raped countless African women
and created the race of today
Eyes of blue and of green staring at them
they could never deny what they did
So they took great advantage at auction
like a prize horse gets more at the bid
After years filled with struggle and violence
Africans were all finally free
And gained rights once denied to their fathers
who the colonists hung from the trees
Now descendants are angry and bitter
hating all that their ancestors made
So they’re rounding up all the Brown people
hoping that their existence will fade
But the blood has been mixing for centuries
we could make 1619 the year
When the seeds of the colonists created
The new race their descendants now fear
Plastic surgeons reshape plastic people
Artificial intelligence so unreal
Robots do our chores for us
Drones fight our wars for us
Can't go to sleep without a pill
Slavery Categories
Definition | What is Slavery 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
bondage, labor, enslavement, servitude, captivity, serfdom, enthrallment, thralldom, restraint, work, thrall, grind, drudgery, indenture, drudge, toil, moil, subjugation, subjection, peonage, serfhood, feudalism, vassalage, bullwork, chains constraint, helotry, menial labor,