Story: Not Done!

They say

(Who says?)

That actions speak 

Louder than words;

That one picture is worth

A THOUSAND 

Of those words

That value less 

Than our actions do.

Every time we pen

A poem

Everyone who writes 

A song

A person who scribbles 

A story 

And the chorus that

Shouts along.

Our words are nothing 

If we do not

SAY them

Our actions fall flat

If we do not 

SLAY them. 

March to the beat of 

A tired crowd’s drum

Help raise awareness 

For a new age to come.

Push back when the 

People tell you to be silent

Push back with your eyes

Just looks can be violent 

Hold hands with justice

And true freedom will ring

Hold hands with LOVE 

And with loud voices sing

Because you can be a piece

To the miraculous world 

Puzzle

You can be a part of the 

Solution;

Not part of the muzzle. 

It could be hard

Friends and family will contest

They may try to stop you

From leaving to protest

The things that you see

On the news 

Night after 

Night after

Night after 

Night

But this fight

Will be worth it the end

You can be an ally

You CAN be a friend 

You can go outside and make

A stand. 

Maybe you want to 

But fear you cannot

Maybe you don’t know why

This ongoing battle has to be

Fought

The good thing is

This knowledge can be sought

Ignorance forgot

That all is not for nought 

And your heart hurts 

(A lot)

When you see an innocent 

Person

Shot 

They were caught 

By someone who wasn’t taught 

That you must never let 

fair judgement rot

No,duh , you should not. 

The glint of the moonlight

Against the color of her skin

Is not an excuse 

To let bullets sink in

And the way that he looks 

Shouldn’t cloud their eyes

If we do not acknowledge this

Where do the truths in this

Country lie? 

Red, White, and Blue

But freedom isn’t ringing true

And red just reminds me 

Of a quiet jogger’s

Last run. 

Of those everywhere 

Who are tired of what

The enemy has become

But they are not settling

So the the story isn’t done

I guess we’ll have to keep

Our protests up

Till we all

Can stand us one.

United we stand,

Divided we fall,

Together we can stand,

Or alone we can crawl. 

Say the names

To your children 

To your friends

And those around

Say the names 

To your hands 

And then proceed to write them down.

Don’t forget how far away the future seems

When it feels like our home is being

Torn at the seams

By a president who seems

To only be interested in following his own dreams 

And who squashes the voices of those

Reaching for a day when people 

All people 

Say

Black Lives Matter 

Without a chorus hollering back

All Lives Matter

As they keep pretending they don’t 

See

The fallacies and tone deaf connotations

Of this statement. 

A hashtag meant to disarm

But in turn,

Just caused 

More harm

By taking attention away 

From what is the issue 

Like a swarm

Of bees spelling out

RADIANT 

In honey 

On a farm. 

Does it not bring you alarm? 

That this has gone on so long 

No matter how loud the voices are

That say, “Stop, please,” so strong?

Why are we still stuck on the same

Miserable song?

We have hands

No matter the color

Black, white, brown

We have a need for each other 

So CALL on me brother,

When you need a hand.

If we all are leaning on something 

Maybe we will learn to fly

And not fall

To 

Reunite and

Not have to feel so small

And so alienated 

What event instigated 

The idea that any of this would make sense?

Are we living in the moment

Or are you stuck in past tense? 

Grow up!

Lose the ideas that rich white men 

Planted in our heads when they arrived 

On boats to steal from people 

Who didn’t look 

Talk

Act

Live 

Like they did. 

Darling, darling…

Stand,

Stand by me.

Solidarity. 

Set your mind free

Don’t be captive to thoughts 

Of a whitewashed 

Monopoly 

Instead lean towards 

A multicolored 

CELEBRATION

You can help bring this to a nation

Breaking 

Crumbling in the hands of

A guy whose main proclamation

Is a twisted definition of the word 

Salvation 

Stop this pseudo declaration 

Tell the president he isn’t responsible for 

Creation 

And he’s echoing the voices of

Dictation 

Telling people what they can and can’t say;

Using the ration 

He’s been given as a reason to up his station

If we can we should use privilege as an

ELEVATION

Use your dollars that you earn as a donation 

If you don’t have money 

Watch some videos!

If you can’t spare the time

To sit and watch

Leave it on 

And let it run

It’s a small thing to do

But we wear glasses against the sun

When it shines too bright

Overwhelming the other natural elements 

And draining the fields of life.

Follow the links 

To help save future lives

Of generations here and those to come

Damage has been done

(Don’t try to erase it!)

Hundreds of years of hurt

(All the good ones still can’t replace it)

The best way to stop

(Don’t run, we can face it) 

Is to not continue

To quit 

With the script

That has caused us to split 

And to find a new story 

And an old director 

Who’s had the credits ready

Since before we were born.

Solidarity

Because I can’t think of a future

Where I have to explain to my children 

That our friends who aren’t white 

Are still being shot down 

For just being who they are 

Where they are

When they are

Instead of being able to walk

Or run 

Or drive with the music turned up

Or reach for a hairbrush 

Without worries of not making it back home. 

(Author’s Note: More Poems!!! I wrote this one kind of late last night. If there are typos or tone deaf things I said in this poem please call attention to this because I’m trying to use poetry to raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement in my community and in our country and I’d hate to be saying things that aren’t true, or sound like something I don’t mean to say. I can’t go protest so I’m writing poetry and short stories this week and knowing that the winners of this contest are going to be part of a great effort in this movement towards justice. I’m so glad to be part of a writing community that supports each other regardless of race, gender, religious backgrounds, nationality, and other differences. It makes me happy to see the Reedsy platform now used as a place to harbor activism of all kinds, not just this kind. Check out my other poem from this week to read about intervention or in my case lack thereof and read my poem from last week to read about the impact of drunk driving. Much love to all followers and readers and writers here with me today! Please comment and say hi below, and see my other poem for links to videos you can watch to donate money to the Black Lives Matter movement when you have no money or time to donate! Life is BUSY but so is the time to change in the country and the World! 🌸⭐️💕🌸⭐️💕) 

.