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Alex Roberson Poem
You say all lives matter
Bringing up all these colors
Like red, white, orange, and blue
But when a black life is taken, where on Earth are you?
Where's your sympathy and support when the takers of our lives get off Scott-free in court?
Why weren't you at the rally?
Why weren't you at the protest?
You say all lives matter then reveal yourself to be a hypocritical mess.
Why are you more upset at the march of an activist feet
And the words that were in his speech
Than you are at the fact that another black body lies bleeding in the street?
Why don't you demand justice when it's our lives they are taking?
Why don't you demand truth as the media is muckraking?
Dessiminating misinformation, and sometimes straight up lies, while ensuring we become nothing but criminals in your eyes?
Not husbands, sons, daughters, loved ones, or wives
None of that is left after we've been demonized, had our humanity stripped and been reduced to part crimes.
Oh but they'll tell the story of the killer, saying he's gentle and wouldn't hurt a fly
When he just might shoot the wings off the black angel if he saw it in the sky?
Why???
To put it simply, he's racist
And that could just be implicit bias
Not always blatant hatred
Either way when he sees the color of my skin my life is no longer as sacred
As a matter of fact the color of it means I'm a threat
And in that moment all training and restraint he forgets
He overreacts
Our of his own cowardice and fear
Pulls the trigger back and
BANG
Another one of us is no longer here...
An instance of disregard and violence
Repeated so much throughout this nation's history
But we won't live in silence in the face of this danger and misery
We've dealt with it since slavery when they put us on the boat
To two years ago
When Eric Garner was choked
You don't care about
The damage, pain, anguish, and tears
Dealt by the oppression and violence we've suffered all these yearsIn fact All Lives matter
You're complicit in these things
You'd say it wasn't true
But when a black life is taken where on Earth are you?
Our here characterizing the entire movement
By the actions of the outside few
Calling us dangerous, cop killers
When that's not even what we do
We want to be able to exercise our rights freely
We want changes in policy
As well as accountability
Consequences for those who inflict this brutality
But as we do our work to change the system from the outside and within
You act as if we've committed some sort of sin
Saying we don't care about others
And it's not about race
Never mind the fact that we are killed at a much higher rate
Sharing stories of white people who are brutalized and ask for our repentance
Purposefully leave out the fact that THAT officer got a sentence
Saying "You ignore the taking of others lives. That ain't right"
Rhetorical question
If a white person is brutalized
Is it ever BECAUSE they're white???
See we go through these things because we are black
And its an understanding or concern about this, that you seem to lack.
Saying all lives matter
To silence our voices on something that matters to US
And through erasure send us to the back of the social justice bus
So I could ask again why
When one of our lives are taken
From you there's no anger, outrage, our outcry
I won't, I already know
It's because from the start
All Lives matter
Wasn't anything but a lie
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2016
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Alex Roberson Poem
For the days when your skin feels inadequate
And you want to escape from it
When you've scrutinized every fiber of your being & want to trade in your reflection
When you don't look right juxtaposed next to the picture of that model
They tell you your skin is too dark to be anything pretty
And you're the guy in third block with the funny-looking glasses, the no-name brand clothes who loves to learn
Keeps to himself, never bothers anyone
But everyone bothers you
the girls don't pay attention to you except for a joke
And everybody cackles
jackals tear pieces out of you
For amusement
Fist strike, blood runs
Eyes are red like stop signs,
But can't slow down tears as they speed down your cheeks
For the lonely times
When you can't find friends
In the classroom, hall, or your home
The times when your body, walk, slang, & style don't fit in and they tell you to cut yourself down to match a space in their jigsaw
"Be like everyone else"
Finding yourself in a world full of Viceroys
Imitations of Monarchs
society calling you caterpillar because you have yet to metamorphous into these half-clones they have never eaten the scales of King Billy but poisoned their originality all the same
And they want you to do the same
Camouflage colors and blend in
Nobody likes an outsider, and everybody's scared to be one
Some are cowards. Afraid to be by themselves
They want to fit in and be secure with undercurrents of self-consciousness
And be appeasing
Looking to others to feel justified in what they do, how they look, who they are
They can't stand alone
And for the times when you feel like an outcast
When you find disgrace looking in the mirror
And feel you deserve what they give you for simply being
Remember to be lion
Be a lion with no pride, but have pride all the same
Pride in yourself, how you were made
Be courageous, mighty, and strong
Even when you're walking by yourself
Strut with your head held high
Speak as boldly as a roar against the evening sky and proclaim your existence
Make everything feel your presence
Let them know that you can stand alone because you have no fear
Make everything in the room quake & wonder at how you could be yourself so boldly and have no shame
Stalk the earth like you are entitled to it and refuse to hide
Hug yourself late at night when you have to
Fight when you need to
Let nobody drag you through the mud
Command respect
And love yourself enough not to accept anything less than what you really deserve
Because you deserve so much better
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2015
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Alex Roberson Poem
Didn’t anyone ever warn you not to falling in love with comets?
The ones that come around and give a few brighter nights
Never being there for more than a sliver of your life
The magical
Fantastical
Seemingly dreamy ones
That can never stay with you
The ones with paths in mind that will take them far away from you
Beautiful ones
Far beyond your reach
that leave empty space in their wake
Giving you a sense of abandonment
That will take a while to shake
Didn’t anyone ever warn you not to put yourself through that ache?”
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2016
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Alex Roberson Poem
When the red wasp come out,
and the lush tree limbs begin to sway in the breeze,
Shaking off the residual drowsiness of their six month slumber,
I know that it has come
I see cool bitterness chased from the atmosphere
The misery is melting
Prompting jollity to come out of hiding,
It's petals bud slowly and then blossom into euphoria
With no concept of boundaries it overtakes the heart,
spreading its green tendrils along the ground until it
finds the cracks in the walls of my spirit
So that even the crumbling parts of me hold life again
Giddiness flits around like a bee playing tag with its companions
becoming intoxicated off the nectar of flowers
This is the season in which my body buzzes with contentment
I am a reclaimed house
in a garden of good vibes
And every day I pick a bouquet
Of smiles
Wrap them in brown paper
And deliver them to the world
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2016
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Alex Roberson Poem
Hope is the bird that guards it's
young dreams from the cold
frostbite, wanting them to last
long enough to see a spring where
they can hatch into reality and sing
Hope is the flower that endures the
storm and has the strength to reach
up even as the drops fall heavy on its
face
It's the rose grounded in the belief
that the sun will shine again so even
when the wind tries to tear it from its
faith
And forces it to bend
The stem remains strong
Bouncing back upright when the
storm has passed and the gale has
calmed
It's a flame who's burn is low and long
That many of us have lit in the hopes that one
day we will find our way out of our own darkness
When the world around us seems to
have gone cold and dry
And we need to stave off numbness
To the things we once anticipated.
Keep your fire
Keep your feeling
Keep your faith
Hope
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2015
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Alex Roberson Poem
The hair sits on my head like it's a throne
And I'm a heir to the heritage
Generations of my people passed this
crown on to me
You may call it nappy but don't sleep on
my royalty
I'm king-sized, never belittling myself of
feeling ashamed for the way it grows
above my brain
Or the way it rises to greet the rain
The way every strand curls, strives and strains
to make a home above the atmosphere
While you want to look at it in fear
Disdain, and wonder
Ponder with entitled and greedy hands
that violate our space the way you once did our lands
Hands that want to colonize the body of a continent
And plunder it for its contents
Don't ask for consent before you take what you want
The afro, cornrows,
twists, and braids
Never mind where it came from or why
they were made
You want locks without the dread of
having them shaved to save chances
of getting a job just so you can be paid
You want it all just so you can look "cool"
Nevermind all of us that get kicked out of
school, banned from pools, and told that we look like fools
All for being ourselves and expressing our pride
Want to take all the "nice" aspects of being black
but would never take the full ride
While we actually have to hide
Temper it
Take snide, rude, and smart remarks just
for a part of us that does what it does naturally
If I'm gonna be myself anywhere in this
country I have to do it aggressively
Unapologetically
I won't be a slave to standards that
hamper my individuality or expression
So to hell with what you say, think, or
the way you look at me
I don't care
Because I'm gonna wear this hair proudly
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2015
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Alex Roberson Poem
Exhaust fumes and flower blooms
Acrid smells, gentler scents
& pungent decay
Hot molten gold flows out of a clear
blue sky
Cars rumble down streets made into
alleys through the trees that tower
over them like Eiffel
Or Freedom
With the rain age old mud mixes
into the seams of recently laid
concrete
My city is a cyborg
With kudzu wrapped telephone wires
weaving away from its heart like
veins through body
Carrying life-lines to its extremities
Steel office buildings rise from the
ground alongside the trees that we
plant on the sides of downtown streets
Because we don't want to forget
what the land was like before we
came
And our quarries carved down mountains
and our progress intruded on mother nature
We don't want to forget what things were like
Before the South started to
become "new" and king Cotton lost
his right to rule to the steel mills, quarries and commercialization and
became a peasant
Before industrialization changed the landscape
And Birmingham earned the nickname "The Magic City"
Civil Rights demonstrators marched
some of the same streets we walk
And the 16th Street Baptist Church
has an exhibit that reminds us that
sometimes progress comes with a high
price
right across from the Civil Rights Institute
Part of Martin's dream came true in some places
Black and white children play
together now
But you can still see the Confederate
Flag hanging from a pole at the side
of the interstate as you go down
towards Florida
The Klan still holds rallies
and buzzards can still be seen eating
road kill in the middle of the suburbs
This is still the south
What some call the country
....and minders of the past are
never that far away.....
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2015
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Alex Roberson Poem
They call them crushes because that's how you feel after the first "No". After they say that they don't feel the same way. And all of that after your entire world was minimized to encompass them, crushed down to the size of an atom with them at the nucleus and your thoughts racing around them like wayward electrons so that even when you try to break free from their grip on your mind you still comes back down to them eventually.
Wondering what they do in their spare time, who they're with, do they know you exist, do they see you, how to best start a conversation and all the things you could talk about....
And you entertained daydreams of laughing with them, of getting to know them over a study break in between classes and over small talk, maybe getting familiar with each other as you break down the material and talked about your life plans....you worked up to the moment and overcame the nervousness to introduce yourself and let them know you were there, stuttering through the words as you went.
Your beating & trembling heart became the epicenter of an earthquake, your nerves the network of fault lines carrying the tremors throughout your body and into your larynx, shaking your sentences into broken cities as it went.
You could've been all glass and rubble. A mess.
You took the first steps and felt the calmness afterwards as the relief stopped the undulation of the ground beneath your feet, with your anxiety being replaced by feelings of triumph and elation that rushed into your body like helium to a balloon. Your ribcage was the latex, expanding and stretching to the bursting point and it just made you feel as if you could levitate above everything and disappear.
Isn't it great when things go well?
When the you make a great first impression in spite of your nerves? How they weren't as difficult to talk to as you thought and how everything just seemed to flow.
You become friends. You start talking to them more and more. Every now and then at first, but then it seems like everyday. Its kinda awkward. You get to know them slowly. The process is sometimes painstaking, but it's happening. You see them up close behind the veil of mystery and begin to learn them. You begin to see their ways, notice their flaws, the little imperfections, and they don't deter you. You think to yourself, "I could still love this person".
Something about them makes you open up. You show them more of yourself. You get comfortable. Maybe that's the first mistake.
The two of you are getting closer and you begin to imagine how great it would be for the two of you to be together. Someone to laugh with, joke with, grow with, someone to come home to who would be your comfort from the rest of the world, someone that will support you and have your back and that fantasy last right up until the moment it comes time to make that move and reveal your feelings to them.
You tell them everything. How you feel when you're around them, how you like them on a deeper level and how you think the two of you could have something special....hoping they understand, hoping they are receptive and will reciprocate as you pour your heart out.
They listen to you...have a good ear and take in everything you have to say.. And they know that this is a precarious moment with everything hanging in the balance for you and they are aware of what the words they say afterwards could do to you, so after you finish they take a moment to gather themselves, choose the words carefully, and express themselves and their feelings with simple honesty.
Bottom line is...they don't feel quite the same about you as you do about them.
They say sorry, say they don't mean to hurt feelings but leave your heart shrinking like a submarine losing air pressure in deep water, giving in to the weight of everything around it.
That's what a crush comes to feel like.
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2016
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Alex Roberson Poem
Strong
Dark
Resilient
Ebony
Towers
Spreading up through history
Budding off new members like leaves
Hoping to make it through seasons
Birth
Adolescence
Middle age
And the cold of winter
With white hair on our heads like snow
Until we fall to the ground
And join our roots
In the ground below
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2016
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Alex Roberson Poem
What attracts you to someone?
Is it just the physical beauty
That smile that stretches for miles
The eyes
The body
The hair
The way they can just sit there
And fascinate you with every little thing that they do
Is it the style
Is it the walk
The talk
The way they weave words together so eloquently
And tell stories that spring the imagination
Creating pictures with words
Is it the laughter they create
The charm
The mystique
The mysterious, enchanting air surrounding them
that snares your curiosity
And makes you want to get closer
Maybe it's the passion
The life and energy they bring
The vibrance of their being
That rouses something deep within us
Is it the vibe you get
And the feeling that your energies are made to resonate with each other?
How is it that you end up falling in love with someone?
It it the interest they show in you
Is it personality
Is it the way you click
Like Legos
Creating a bond through
your similarities
Or is it the peace/piece you get
in finding someone who accepts your differences
And let's you fit in
Is it the understanding
The memories shared
Is it the way you boost each other
and help each other grow
Is it exploring the world and exploring
each other
And having an adventure with all the parts you find
Is it finding joy in the simple things
Is it the way they fill you with
happiness
Are they your escape from the
world and all its weight
Is it because they bear it and stick with you
Through the hard parts
Just because you need it
And because they want to see you make it
Is it their belief in you at the
times when you doubt yourself
Do they open your eyes
And help you see the world differently
Are they your support
Are they your well-wishes
Do they want a good day for you
And hope for a better tomorrow
Are they patient with you
without getting tired
or ashamed
And is it because you're always adequate
and enough for them
even at those times when you hate yourself and wish
you were more
Is it the ones that never
demand anything from you
that you can't give
that make you want to give them
everything that you possibly can?
Copyright © Alex Roberson | Year Posted 2015
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