I Love Poetry- Black Poetry Day 10/17

Enjoy a personal piece of mine, written in 2023 after reading some of the book: The Body Keeps the Score-Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

Repeat after Me

Yo’ child taking pills,

Underlying they don’t know what’s real.

Through your hurt and pain,

Very seldom it’s in our gain.

Struggling, struggling to survive.

God told us about Mother Earth.

Carry her, treasure her worth.

Our babies hurt, confused and diseased.

The system has the answer:

Medicate their minds, so we can be pleased.

Why were we taught Not. To. Cry.

To close the door when our voices got too high.

I am the ceiling you are the floor.

We both see the window of our pain…

A 5 yr. old on prescription drugs- help us as we deal with our shame.

Can you hear the fetters on their little feet, still needing milk Paul,

The world forces them meat.

How do we change a system that know not our name.

How much more shame.

Before you were born, God already proclaimed.

That baby over yonder, “she was fine with you lord.”

“She was healthy, he was strong.”

Can we please turn back to you?

That’s where we belong.

Why our black babies get put on drugs?

Why our black kids can’t thrive?

How long will our communities burn from within,

Does our blackness make us turn a blind eye?

Am I too Black to see?

Is my blackness out of control?

Will I assist in my own injection to keep me numb?

When God says, “son, daughter you come from

my treasure, riches untold.”

I walk and the ground shakes.

I speak and heaven quakes.

I yield and God makes the way.

I plant and their grows my faith.

We must reconcile our homes to our streets,

Build purpose from the pain we weep.

Saturate our youth with armor their minds can reap.

 

This. Is. A. Promise. Through. Our. God. We. Keep.

How do we change a system that know not our name?

Who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame?

You are not just clay,

A myriad from the dirt-

Sand of the sea,

God calls your hands to be of good work.

What shall rise against the calamity of our time?

You, You, for inside of purpose lies strength we must recognize.

I will speak and you will answer,

I will call- you shall awake.

We will teach our babies truth?

Our ancestors still hold our hands “Make No Mistake.”

Our Power Is In Our Healing

Our answer comes through our prayer.

As we support another,

This is where your armor gets repaired.

Let your voice echo in the wind,

Let your purpose call you to the end.

Let your vision keep you through the night,

Let your soul make a pathway to the light.

Let your mind steady the strength of your hands,

Let your courage remain when fear takes its stand.

Let your truth lead you down the road,

Let your tears remind you who is in control.

Let your burdens yield to your faith,

Let Joy be the backdrop when doubt wants to win the race.

Let purpose forever stand,

Let God remind you…He Always… Has A Plan.