Conquer Hate by Jalen McIntosh (Modern Sonnet)

There is much hate on this Earth,

Is there a way to conquer it?

The truth is that hate has been here since its birth,

But is there a way to remove hate it by bit?

Everyday in this world we witness hate,

Rivals from coast to coast, hate comments under Facebook posts.

How to stop this hate spawns a huge debate,

Hatred is what I hate the most.

For a world without hate is very much impossible,

For peace and love cannot exist without it.

But a world where peace and love outweighs hate is plausible,

To reduce the shadows, a brighter light we must emit.

For it is conceivable, feasible, reasonable.

Allowing hate to rule us is indefeasible.

Ribbon in the Sky by Faith Smith

He loves the way the flowers bloom in the day.

He adores the way she sways with her grace.

She’s his ribbon in the sky, something almost like a lil’ hope.

He appreciates her so, and he always says, ‘that’s my golden globe.’

It never hurt anybody to appreciate this name called Woman.

He didn’t care that the stones were casted his way.

He just sat outside and watched her in his daze.

His ribbon in the sky, oh how he was amazed.

Woman always saw him from across the street.

She would roll her eyes and keep it moving with much discreet.

She hated his wandering eyes and hungered thoughts.

She knew that whatever he offered, she wouldn’t be bought.

Woman didn’t need anyone, because she was strong.

She wasn’t afraid to be the one to stand on her own.

She was indeed something a man should want.

But she knew that most didn’t deserve her flaunt.

So Woman remained his ribbon in the sky.

She never met with him, out of sight, out of mind.

She continued to stand tall and go on with life.

While Man just hoped one day she wouldn’t just be his ribbon in the sky.

Too Long by Kaylia Walker

I have been sorry for too too long. I have taken the blame for everybody's mistakes. I have forgiven the people who hurt me the most, whose cuts were the deepest wounds  I have ever seen. I have even apologized at times where my apology should not have been needed, but people do not understand that and do not realize how much I ha've sacrificed. I have put their feelings above my own, and yet something is still wrong. Nothing I do ever seems to be quite enough either I am a bad friend or a piece of dust. I have allowed so many people to cry on my shoulder yet, when my eyes were wet I had no where to run. If only they could see me for me, because honestly I'm not sorry. See I had a knife in my back when I wrote this because honestly I try too hard. I ike to see everybody smiling but sometimes just me isn't enough. See, like a friendship we have to be 50/50, because I cannot do it all on my own. I am tired of being to blame for other people's problems in fact I am tired of being a "problem" at all. How about I forget you and you forget me so next time we see one another I do not know you and you do not know me, because I am sick and tired of being everybody's scapegoat-I am no longer apologizing for anything. I have come to the conclusion that what is best for you and me is leaving me alone and leave me in my own insanity. For I do not need anymore stress, from you or anybody else, no more stress because I cause enough for myself.

My Ode to Men by Gabrielle Gousman

To men, may you capture

The dreams you chase.

May the Utopia you seek,

Blooming in masculinity,

Become a reality for you.

May it be without the color pink,

Flowers or even rainbows.

May it be without anything feminine.

May it be without beauty,

Because you seem to destroy

Everything you touch.

My innocence is bud that has yet to bloom,

But living in a world with you

Makes it crumble.

Makes it wither,

You make it shrivel up and die,

Just like everything you touch.

You try to tell me how to

Walk

You try to tell me how to

Talk,

How to look, how I should stand.

You try to tell me to talk

Quietly,

Think pretty,

Be small and meek.

But really you just don’t want me

To exist.

My existence is a threat

To your Utopia.

My pain is too real for you.

You don’t understand my pain.

You don’t care about my pain.

You try to shush me

By telling me I’m nothing.

“You are nobody,” you say,

But I can’t be nobody

If I’m here,

I exist,

I breathe,

I have flesh,

And you can’t change that.

Many have tried and failed.

You can’t tear down a temple

When it’s on holy grail.

And my body’s  a temple,

Wherever I stand is holy grail.

I will not allow you to tear me down…

I am a woman,

And that means so much more

Than you give me credit for.

PURE.

Perfection is an infinite distance. Unreachable. Undeniably desirable. But I have not yet seen near perfection. No purity. Just the purely insane. Acting against every grain of purity. Wrapped around the idea that it exists. No need to beg of others to come to this delusional state of pureness. This Utopia we dream of is unable to be constructed. We are not built with pure perfection out of the womb. It is a fault in our setting.Men and Women. But when the majority of one gender is constantly at war with this idea. Then one should ask if it is based on sexism. It all comes down to the common core that none of us are purely perfect. Unless, according to American history, you’re a  straight white male.

-Azúcar Mind

Speak to Me by Laquita Parker

Speak to me you peasant

Tell me of ye worthiness

Is ye to be willed by society

Or are the powerful enough to stand by me

Worthy of my skills and the birth I give

Ride with the wind and soar in the sky

Speak to me of righteousness

Forces and beyond

Speak to me of protection

Defend me from the dark ones that want to control me

Dangerous and wild

Spicy fire but mild

Soloist with style

Speak to me about me

Not of who you prefer me to be

For I can only be dangerously me

Speak to me of responsibility

And thy will tell you of all ye flaws

For whatever you speak of me I will conquer all

So reveal to me your disgraceful loyalty of the who speaks untruly of me

Speak to me

Forbid the laws and invite the outlaws

Stand with heart and mind

For together in due time we shall shine

So speak to me o worthy one

Listen to my call

For I am strength and power

Acknowledge my goals

Bring to me everlasting happiness

And soon we shall mirror one another

We are the blinded equals

A whisper of dreams to reality

So speak to me and thou shall respond

My Point by Mariah Fields

Why am I labeled “VICTIM” because of my

appearance, because of my gender, because of my

features? Typically when people hear the word

Woman they think fragile, soft, etc etc… Basically

someone with no intentions in standing up or

having a voice. I THINK NOT! I’m a woman. A strong

woman, whose been through hell and back but still I

stand. Why am I categorized as someone unworthy

of being equal to another human being ? Should I

step down, shut my mouth, and accept how I’ve

been treated ? No, I will not. I will not sit there and

be treated as something less than animal even if

I’m dead my point will be made.