Setaphire

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
RENOWNED HARLEM RENAISSANCE POET x ESSAYIST x NOVELIST
EDUCATOR x CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST x DIPLOMET x LAWYER x LYRICIST
PLAYWRIGHT

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might lead us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God,
Where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world,
We forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand True to our God,
True to our native land

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

LIFE IS THE ART OF DRAWING

CAROLYN J. OGLETREE
POET X PAINTER

Life is the art of drawing
Lines, oil, paint, and chalk
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
Brushes, pencil on canvas
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
From bed to bed and room to room
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
Boy, girl, marriage
Saint Mary’s church
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
House, car and society
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, children-P.T.A.
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
Black and white, no harmony
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
Wars and countless deaths
Red, white and blue
America

Life is the art of drawing
Peace
Red, white and blue
America

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

THE VOICE OF FREEDOM

ROBERT LEE
FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

I am the voice that is heard everywhere;
Each day I struggle to get segregation away from here.
I am the voice that men call upon
for Unity
for Brotherhood
for Now
for Eternity
I am the voice of Freedom.
Gaining me is America's task;
Through striving and sacrifice
Segregation will be unmasked.
I am the voice that speaks with great pride:
Segregation and discrimination will be cast aside.
I am the voice that proclaims,
"I will bring justice,"
"I will bring equality."
I am the voice that shouts,
"Segregation is dead."
I am the voice of freedom.
I will be -America!

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ https://www.crmvet.org

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

CHANGING THE AMERICAN STAGE

ELNORA FONDREN
FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

America is a stage life land,
All people have parts to learn in hand.
If I were to walk down the street and say,
"I want my freedom this very day,"
I'd raise my fingers and lift my face,
But my people would look at me in disgrace.
"Why should I try to be free?
I already have my liberty."
The people are walking as statues do;
I have no right to look at you.
My face is different, my face is black,
But why should you want to hold me back?
We are a nation, and it is said,
"A Nation when parted is a stage that's dead."
I was once a patriot true.
Now you try to take me with you:
Not to be brothers and to let me be free,
But only to take care of thee.
I still have to play my part;
I am still a slave in my heart.
To look at our flag, and say to thee,
''I am here, but am I free?"
The Nation of America is never to be
Until we have our liberty.
If Khrushchev walked to my hometown,
I'd try my best to show him around,
Even though he is a man in wrong,
I still would try to help him along.
A man is a man, and life is life;
I am a man, and he is in life.
The trail of freedom is all around,
I wish it would come through this sorrowed town.
In this nation, I want you to know,
I am a citizen, and I want to be treated so.
This nation has got to get together
And leave it to God to decide who is better.
I am here to testify,
I want my freedom, and that ain't no lie.
So Mr. Charlie, you are the best,
But I am as equal as you and the rest.
I am telling you the earnest truth,
We are people just like you.
So get ready for the fright of your life.
These people are going to get their freedom in height.
Try to be ready, try to be strong,
But you won't hold the black man down for long.

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ https://www.crmvet.org

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

ELEGY WRITTEN IN AMERICA

FRENCHY HODGES
POET X ACTOR X EDUCATOR

Born down in Georgia
Died in Tennessee
Non-violence was his method
Love was his plea.

He lived with a dream
Told it to all he met
Many still remember
Others will forget.

Believed in the ballot
Taught it all around
Taught it in the country
Taught it in the town.

In nineteen-hundred, sixty three
He went to cash a check
Tried to cash a check for freedom
America shot him in the neck.

Many things they called him
Ni**er, gentle warrior, king,
Fool, dreamer, prophet, saviour,
He who bade freedom ring.

Freedom never did start its ring,
The dream never came true
The check never was cashed,
A debt unpaid comes due.

Born down in Georgia
Shot down in Tennessee
Love was his greatest gift
Freedom was his plea.

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

IN MEMORIAM: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

JUNE JORDAN
RENOWNED POET X PLAYWRIGHT X WRITER X ESSAYIST X TEACHER X ACTIVIST

1
honey people murder mercy U.S.A.
the milkland turn to monsters teach
to kill to violate pull down destroy
the weakly freedom growing fruit
from being born
America
tomorrow yesterday rip r**e
exacerbate despoil disfigure
crazy running threat the
deadly thrall
appall belief dispel
the wildlife burn the breast
the onward tongue
the outward hand
deform the normal rainy
riot sunshine shelter wreck
of darkness derogate
delimit blank
explode deprive
assassinate and batten up
like bullets fatten up
the raving greed
reactivate a springtime
terrorizing
death by men by more
than you or I can
STOP

2
They sleep who know a regulated place
or pulse or tide or changing sky
according to some universal
stage direction obvious
like shorewashed shells
we share an afternoon of mourning
in between no next predictable
except for wild reversal hearse rehearsal
bleach the blacklong lunging
ritual of fright insanity and more
deplorable abortion
more and
more

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

JUSTICE AND JIVE
(A History Poem of American Justice)
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

MARGARET BLOCK
POET X CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST X FORMER MEMBER OF SNCC

Justice wasn't in America's plan when they took away the Indian Nation's land,
Like the Arapahoe, the Apache, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Navajo and many more.
Was it a just plan when you banished them to an isolated land
And infected them with smallpox and hives, you just knew that they wouldn't survive
These injustices can never be justified,
You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive.
Where was Justice when slavery abounded,
Perhaps she was helping Old Master keep Swobo's nose to the ground.
They took away his children, his culture, his language and his identity
but they could not take his dignity.
Madame Justice, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.
You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive.
Justice was nowhere around when all of the lynchings were going down.
The Klan strung us up and didn't try to hide
Because they knew that Justice wasn't on our side,
When Billie Holliday sang "Strange Fruit," she was singing about dead bodies hanging from a poplar tree.
She could have been singing about you or me.
She knew that justice would never preside,
You call it Justice but Billie called it Jive.
Justice comes with a dollar sign although justice is supposed to be blind.
I can't buy Justice and pay my rent. I make minimum wage with no benefits.
It seems to me that Justice is only for the rich.
If you don't have money Justice will be denied.
You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive.
If Justice is really color blind then why are so many black and brown brothers doing time?
You lock them up on some homemade facts but that was always your plan of attack.
Langston Hughes once said that justice is a blind goddess to whom we blacks are wise,
Her bandage covers two festering sores that once perhaps were eyes.
You call it Justice but Langston called it Jive.
Madame Justice must be really tired.
She's permitting the cops to do black profiles,
they watch us and stop us for no good reason.
We feel like sitting ducks during hunting season.
It's about time for Justice to be on our side.
You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive.
Mr. President, if Justice was really intact, then why did you create the Patriot Act?
Your homeland security is an injustice in disguise
but Mr. Bush, unlike Justice, we're not blind. We all have eyes.
You call it justice but it's just another word for Jive.
Now Mrs. Bush, Justice had to have been deaf, mute and blind
when you helped create No Child Left Behind.
You're setting children up for a great big fall.
Mrs. Bush, an injustice to one is an injustice to all.
Justice should be on the children's side.
You call it Justice, but even the children know it's Jive.
Where was Justice when Katrina went down?
Perhaps she was hiding out with the FEMA director, that incompetent Michael Brown.
The people at the Superdome sent up a prayer in hopes that FEMA
would soon be there but Bush and Brown really didn't care.
They wished that they all had just floated away while they plotted and
lied and created an inexcusable delay, but someone once said that
Justice delayed is Justice denied.
You call it Justice, but we can all recognize Jive.

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ https://www.crmvet.org

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

RIGHT ON: WHITE AMERICA

SONIA SANCHEZ
ICONIC BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT POET X WRITER X ESSAYIST X PROFESSOR X PLAYWRIGHT

this country might have been a pio
neer land
once.
but. there ain’t
no mo
indians blowing
custer’s mind
with a different
image of america.
this country
might have
needed shoot/
outs/ daily/
once.
but. there ain’t
no mo real/ white allamerican
bad/guys.
just.
u & me
blk/ and un/armed.
this country might have been a
pio
neer land once.
and it still is.
check out
the falling
gun/shell on our blk/ tomorrows.

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

AMERICUS, GEORGIA IN SIXTY THREE
Published in 1975

LULU WESTBROOK GRIFFIN
CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST X POET X SPEAKER
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

ONE OF 32 GIRLS LOCKED AWAY IN 1963 IN AN OLD CIVIL WAR STOCKADE FOR PROTESTING SEGREGATION IN HER HOMETOWN OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA.

Americus, Georgia in sixty three
There were obvious signs of bigotry,
Laws of Segregation were everywhere
White Supremacist Groups did not care.
The hatred they had for People of colour
Was blantant and vicious,
Toward my little sisters and brothers.
There were perpetrators, spectators,
Instigators, violators, Vigilantes, Agitators,
KKKS and NEGRO haters.
We marched with our Placards
And sang The FREEDOM Songs,
We were beaten and jailed
while making History at home.
Many fought for their freedom
to change the JIM CROW LAWS,
Now AMERICUS has signs of "LIBERTY"
And no more Segregated walls.

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ https://www.crmvet.org

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

AMERICA BLEEDS
First appeared in “Motive Magazine.”

ANGELO LEWIS
POET

it does, it does, i have seen it
bleeding brothers & sisters, i
have seen it, i have seen it,
come rushing, walk crippled,
fall flatly on tears of sad streets
where creatures fall onward with
cold eyes over them, armies on
streets over them, police on
pavements over them, tear gas
in faces over them, fires &
minds, living dreams living,
all of them innocents, yes,
yes, i have seen it, it bleeds,
it bleeds, have seen it bleed,
spill blood at my brothers,
cough no at our dignity,
i tell you, i tell you, we must,
kick on this monster, till it
dies, till it dies, dies, dies,
dies, dies, lies in the dirt
with its blood & its sickness,
head fall rolling in gutter,
red, white, & blue, flow freely,
flow freely, move over, fall down,
down, down, be finished at
last.

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

ARSON AND COLD LACE
(or how i yearn to Burn Baby Burn)
“Arson and Cold Lace,” first appeared in “Umbra.”

WORTH LONG
POET X FORMER STAFF COORDINATOR OF SNCC

We have found you out
Falsed face America
We have found you out
We have found you out
False farmers
We have found you out
The sparks of suspicion
Are melting your waters
and water can’t drown them
These fires a-burning
and firemen can’t calm them
With falsely appeasing
and preachers can’t pray
with hopes for deceiving
Nor leaders deliver
A lecture on losing
Nor teachers inform them
The chosen are choosing
For now is the fire
And fires won’t answer
To logic and listening
and hopefully seeming
Hot flames must devour
The kneeling and fleeing
and torture the masters
Whose idiot pleading
Gits lost in the echoes
Of dancing and bleeding
We have found you out
False farmers
We have found you out
We have found you out
False faced America
We have found you out