Poems

“I AM” Poem

I am Linda Brown


I wonder if I can attend school in my neighborhood

I hear the angry voices say no

I see segregated public schools

I am African American

I pretend I walk to school with my new white friends

I feel Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP will help me win my case

I touch a nerve in white Southerners

I worry the Supreme Court will rule against us

I cry when I am spat upon

I am a rebel

I understand the Fourteenth Amendment

I say, “separate is not equal”

I dream my life will change now that segregation is unconstitutional

I try to make them not fear me

I hope I have made a difference

I am a hero

Avery

"War Wife"

I am a mother

While my husband is at war,

I try to provide

"Flashback"

Its raining today on the corner where I lie.

With frostbitten hands, I hod my soggy sign.

The thunder reminds me of my time in the war.

My heart is heavy, calloused, and sore. 

The speeding cars on the freeway overpass

sound like enemy jets, ready to attack.

flashback:

Suddenly bombs are falling

so I drop to my knees and continue on,

crawling.

After some time the thundering ceases.
I rise from the ground,

everything in pieces.

Lifting countless bodies out of the dirt

I cant help but grow numb to the hurt

Since then its been forty years, 

but even today I'm fighting back tears.

The haunting memories keep me awake 

night after night

Unable to sleep,

I hold my sign tight.

Jilian

I am a woman

Men try to tell me I can’t do it

They tell me I might hurt myself

I know I am capable of doing it

I am a woman

They expect me to stay home all day

He tells me “you can clean, cook, and clean”

I know I have something better to do with my life

I am a woman

He laughs at the woman on the streets protesting

We all know we are equal to men

All we are asking for is equality of civil rights and pay

I am a woman

I walk outside and join the protest

He is ashamed and furious

But I am not bothered by it

I am a woman

He wonders why we are doing this

He tells me this is not my place

I will prove to him I can do other things

I am a woman

I start work for the first time

The pay is not good, but I don’t mind

I will prove myself

I am a woman

My husband sees what I have done

He is impressed and surprised

I feel accomplished

I am a woman

We win in the fight for equal pay

Thank god for Title XII

I am an equal

I am a woman

Paige

Cinquain Poem

“Vietnam War”

Vietnam

Contain Communism

Napalm, soldiers, bombings

Hope, nationalism, death, hopeless

War

Brooke