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Best Poems Written by Carlton Platt

Below are the all-time best Carlton Platt poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Who You Calling Nigga

Who you calling nigga?
when I done making you rich from my sweat
bearing the children you calling bastard
when i done cleaning up your mess
and as soon as i sit to rest
you calling me names

Who you calling  nigga?
The same person who heals you
when you sitting you lazy arse in bed
the same one who keeps your tears in a bottle
but you never give notice to them all

Well this nigga proud
this nigga done 
and dis nigga running things now
dis nigga sitting in your office chair 
marrying your only daughter
this nigga climbing this ladder
an' I damn proud to be A NIGGA.

So who you think you calling nigga now?

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Grow Up

I am alone
I do everything myself
cry, laugh and cry again
as if I'd rather be happily sad

My best friends are books and God
Only they know my secrets 
only they solve problems
humans don't understand-
(We judge too much)-

That every tear means something else
Every smile isn't real
Everyone can never be equally proportionate
In colour, class or being literate

I am never always me 
I pretend, I lie and I hate
I am afraid of me
(I am afraid of everything)

I wear a bravado
(it won't last)
I am never going to grow up
I am still a child
a budding flower
as light as the wind
I get blown around
Trampled 

But I know the meaning of my tears
I too speak equality
I am smiling
That is my secret
I can't grow up
your blocking my light
breathing my air
denying me my rights.

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Counting Stars

One flew across the sky
But died soon after
Others beamed with the moon
in some concerted laughter


I've been counting stars
For as long as I can remember
Those whose brilliance fell
Those that shone there on after

I've been counting stars
Much like they held my dreams
The possibilities in that beaming gas
I'll be counting til my star drops

I've been counting for millions
Millions have been lost
( They flashed and fell)
I'll keep counting
Til my star drops.

One flew across the sky
It dropped and died
My stars is still in the sky
I'll keep counting stars
Til my star drops.

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

I Rise and Fall

I rise and fall like spring tides
And soothing autumn winds
Like effervescing chemical solutions
And gliding butterfly wings
I rise and fall

Like aeroplanes departures and landing
And emblems on flagpoles standing
I rise and fall like ocean waves
And the landscape across the land
I rise and fall like someone’s hand

I rise and fall like the sun and moon
Like equinoxes and solstices
I rise and fall like speed on speedometers
I rise and fall like summer breezes   
 And the temperature on thermometers

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Great Expectations

Great Expectations 

You wanted me to be doctor
But I turned out to be an infamous felon
Raving the streets and committing crimes
Am no longer the doctor you wanted me to be
Not the puppet controlled by your strings
And your great expectations

You desired of you me principle
But now am an abuser of power
Defying the laws of Newton and the government
 Is there principle, if any, in that?
Am no longer the magical button you push
To save yourself from utter disgrace

You wanted, desired and hoped
For what seemed not intent to my persona
Of no interest to my autonomy or “locker ghosts” 
You forced on me what you wanted the most
And you quarreled, cursed and yelled
Well, Quiet now! It’s my time, my moment
The moment to embrace myself

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

When You Left

When you left, the lights faded
The blue skies turned grey
When you left, my emotions died
I thought I’d never survive that day
When you felt the curtains closed
And the stage faded to black
When you left, life strangled itself
And hope hid between heartbreak and despair
When you left, every image blurred.


But that spark remained alight
A tiny reminder of life’s resurrection
The sky turning back to blue
The reopening of the curtains to a lighted stage
A possibility, a tiny jest of instinct
In my mind I met you halfway
But my heart held back astride
For when you left, it died.

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

The Exam -May 05,2012

The urge  is to die and not withstandbeing 
killed
The conspiracy is to demise our 
knowledge
But I will not let it swallow me and 
I watch as the hands on the clock
Form a repeating angle and I stare

The reason is to try until ad nauseaum
I cant take it anymore!
No longer will I accept an onslaught on 
cerebro
I'll get up. Go and never stop to care
Or listen who explains or who got it right

I rise to leave and as if by force
Am subjected to sit and continue a cruelty 
To myself. I saw the year; wasted listening 
to what I call stupidity.I shall sit and 
watch
time run off the clock then leave this 
dreaded room and pray for the marker.

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Vox Populi

I'se  been working my ass all day
in them government agencies in this here hot city	 
and them only giving me this little to pay
for food, rent and give them back the change in my grocery bill and utility.
First, I can't sleep on your job but you sleeping with my money
Using it to fill your belly, while I here contemplating
what making salting and what go be food

giving them prisoners three meals a day 
while I'se in the free, dying for hunger
(poor me!)

Personally,  me thinks dem crusty hand, old niggas
must board old trucks like my granny
tell dem hol' on tight and truck dem offsite 
to work for dem food and a better life
an' dont figet the shackles! Put 'em on three by three
(modern slavery).
 Lest they go free.
Professionally, I kibbain' ma mout'
Make dem bun tax money 
Til dem get let out.
An dis yere darn government-
tolling our country's rusty, old bell-
Off with their heads.
sitting on the high chair we holding up
(if we let go, dem go fall)
tearing out dem dry eyes looking for more than them really deserve
(slackness dis 'ere!)

Might lose my job tomorrow
really, I no care!
cause what is the difference between poor and poor working class?
when all day I'se been  working off my ass
Fi tit-bit more than bus fare!

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

Ballad of a Drunken Lady

She drowns herself in pints and quarts
And finds solace in liquor bottles
She uses it to mend her broken hearts
Though she stumbles and topples

She decides her fate with alcohol
And speaks through sealed lips
And harshness bounces off her breath like a wall
After she has had a few sips

But dear God bless the tongue of the drunken
Lady, gentleman or naïve child 
Blinded by the bliss of wild desires,
Wasted away like rubbish beguiled.

Details | Carlton Platt Poem

No Free Ride

Tears and tides
Like shoveled snow
I fall with pride
And no longer glow
My life is no free ride
I got to pay my fare
And give my dues
This aint no free trip
Hopelessness,hurt are hobson's choice 
So this not free for all
Its my future
And I don't want it postponed
Like events without sponsors
Is my life I living
And me should make my own choices
So if you planning to take free ride
Hope off this bus!