First Kiss
It’s a game or should I say a tease.
As people anticipate that special moment and what it may bring.
Scared to take the first step, because pushy one will seem,
so they wait to see whose brave enough to break the tension that’s in-between.
When that moment comes, it’s like a dream.
But until that moment comes, the first kiss
remains a mystery that will be wondrous to behold.
By Shanterica Brooks
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Beautiful Black Men
Beautiful Black Men
(with compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)
i wanta say just gotta say something
bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight
black men
with they afros
walking down the street
is the same ol danger
but a brand new pleasure
sitting on stoops, in bars, going to offices
running numbers, watching for their whores
preaching in churches, driving their hogs
walking their dogs, winking at me
in their fire red, lime green, burnt orange
royal blue tight tight pants that hug
what i like to hug
jerry butler, wilson pickett, the impressions
temptations, mighty mighty sly
don't have to do anything but walk
on stage
and i scream and stamp and shout
see new breed men in breed alls
dashiki suits with shirts that match
the lining that compliments the ties
that smile at the sandals
where dirty toes peek at me
and i scream and stamp and shout
for more beautiful beautiful beautiful
black men with outasight afros
By: Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her birth name was Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. Nikki Giovanni is one of the best-known African-American poets who reached prominence during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her unique and insightful poetry testifies to her own evolving awareness and experiences: from her childhood to adulthood. Many of her poems were written during her civil rights activist days. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride and respect for African Americans. Giovanni’s first published volumes of poetry grew out of her response to the assassinations of such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Robert Kennedy, and the pressing need she saw to raise awareness of the dilemma and the rights of black people. By the early 1970s, Giovanni had discovered that many poems symbolizing black hate had been publisher, so in response she wrote “Beautiful Black men.” Beautiful Black Men serve as her testimony to black men and what they mean to her. She acknowledges their style and gives them the praise they deserve. I chose this poem, because the images are strong and the details display a sense of pride.
(with compliments and apologies to all not mentioned by name)
i wanta say just gotta say something
bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight
black men
with they afros
walking down the street
is the same ol danger
but a brand new pleasure
sitting on stoops, in bars, going to offices
running numbers, watching for their whores
preaching in churches, driving their hogs
walking their dogs, winking at me
in their fire red, lime green, burnt orange
royal blue tight tight pants that hug
what i like to hug
jerry butler, wilson pickett, the impressions
temptations, mighty mighty sly
don't have to do anything but walk
on stage
and i scream and stamp and shout
see new breed men in breed alls
dashiki suits with shirts that match
the lining that compliments the ties
that smile at the sandals
where dirty toes peek at me
and i scream and stamp and shout
for more beautiful beautiful beautiful
black men with outasight afros
By: Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her birth name was Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. Nikki Giovanni is one of the best-known African-American poets who reached prominence during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her unique and insightful poetry testifies to her own evolving awareness and experiences: from her childhood to adulthood. Many of her poems were written during her civil rights activist days. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride and respect for African Americans. Giovanni’s first published volumes of poetry grew out of her response to the assassinations of such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Robert Kennedy, and the pressing need she saw to raise awareness of the dilemma and the rights of black people. By the early 1970s, Giovanni had discovered that many poems symbolizing black hate had been publisher, so in response she wrote “Beautiful Black men.” Beautiful Black Men serve as her testimony to black men and what they mean to her. She acknowledges their style and gives them the praise they deserve. I chose this poem, because the images are strong and the details display a sense of pride.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Eyes of My Regret
The Eyes of My Regret
Always at dusk, the same tearless experience,
The same dragging of feet up the same well-worn path
To the same well-worn rock;
The same crimson or gold dropping away of the sun
The same tints, – rose, saffron, violet, lavender, grey
Meeting, mingling, mixing mistily;
Before me the same blue black cedar rising jaggedly to
a point;
Over it, the same slow unlidding of twin stars,
Two eyes, unfathomable, soul-searing,
Watching, watching, watching me;
The same two eyes that draw me forth, against my will
dusk after dusk;
The same two eyes that keep me sitting late into the
night, chin on knees
Keep me there lonely, rigid, tearless, numbly
miserable –
The eyes of my Regret.
By: Angelina Weld Grimke
Angelina Grimke was born February 20th 1805, in South Carolina. Her father was a slave holding judge that became the vice president of the NAACP. Her mother’s was white and her middle class white family opposed her marriage to Angelina’s father, due to him being black. This resulted in Angelina being raised by her father and some of his relatives. Angelina began writing at a very young age and even published some of her poems during the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote 173 poems of which 31 were published. A lot of Angelina’s poems were not published, because she’s an African American woman and her sexuality. Angelina Grimke prided herself in being a lesbian after the death of her father, which at the time homosexuality was frowned upon. Among them were love poems, elegies, poems concerned with racial injustice and black pride, nature poems and poems with the universal themes of life and death. The poem “The Eyes of My Regret,” is my favorite. The mood of the poem is sad and calm. The imagery she provides with her color schemes strengthen the message of the poem and release the deep hidden emotions that are responsible for her regret. This poems flows nicely and provide great details that readers are able to feel the misery she posses.
Always at dusk, the same tearless experience,
The same dragging of feet up the same well-worn path
To the same well-worn rock;
The same crimson or gold dropping away of the sun
The same tints, – rose, saffron, violet, lavender, grey
Meeting, mingling, mixing mistily;
Before me the same blue black cedar rising jaggedly to
a point;
Over it, the same slow unlidding of twin stars,
Two eyes, unfathomable, soul-searing,
Watching, watching, watching me;
The same two eyes that draw me forth, against my will
dusk after dusk;
The same two eyes that keep me sitting late into the
night, chin on knees
Keep me there lonely, rigid, tearless, numbly
miserable –
The eyes of my Regret.
By: Angelina Weld Grimke
Angelina Grimke was born February 20th 1805, in South Carolina. Her father was a slave holding judge that became the vice president of the NAACP. Her mother’s was white and her middle class white family opposed her marriage to Angelina’s father, due to him being black. This resulted in Angelina being raised by her father and some of his relatives. Angelina began writing at a very young age and even published some of her poems during the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote 173 poems of which 31 were published. A lot of Angelina’s poems were not published, because she’s an African American woman and her sexuality. Angelina Grimke prided herself in being a lesbian after the death of her father, which at the time homosexuality was frowned upon. Among them were love poems, elegies, poems concerned with racial injustice and black pride, nature poems and poems with the universal themes of life and death. The poem “The Eyes of My Regret,” is my favorite. The mood of the poem is sad and calm. The imagery she provides with her color schemes strengthen the message of the poem and release the deep hidden emotions that are responsible for her regret. This poems flows nicely and provide great details that readers are able to feel the misery she posses.
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