AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune--I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth--that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
......
You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.
That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair
......
I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.
I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.
......
They sent me a salwar kameez
&nb sp; peacock-blue,
& nbsp; and another
glistening like an orange split open,
embossed slippers, gold and black
&nbs p; points curling.
Candy-striped glass bangles
&n bsp; snapped, drew blood.
Like at school, fashions changed
&n bsp; in Pakistan -
......
I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company!
But to go to school on a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
......
From the outside, I looked great:
honors student and self-taught musician,
college bound, made for success.
”Athletic and academic” they said.
On the outside, I looked great.
But if you looked any deeper than my high school transcript,
you would find disorders and medications,
turmoil, self-hatred.
Who was I without excellence?
Every A+ solidified my fear:
......
Mary Davis dwelled on a fruit farm, adoring the company of animals.
Most beloved was sociable Sam, who made her giggle, like bubbles!
Whereas Mary was seven-years-old, Sam, her lamb, was still a baby,
Given to Mary by best neighbors, when they played in orange daisies.
Sam's white fleece was soft and fluffy, like a mound of feather pillows;
Like clouds of endless, turquoise skies, blown by breezes, into billows.
Sweet-natured Sam and Mary's bond, was special. Soon inseperable!
......
O memories of long ago
I never thought I'd miss you
I still remember those times
Never thought they'd be the best of times
Oh, how I long for those days
Hard as they were, painful even
They are the loveliest, nonetheless
Younger me would've been perplexed
If she knew I want those days back!
But perhaps that's how life is
......
Sandra Hall was a college student, like experience gained from learning,
Living in the house of her parents; with love like red, fall leaves returning.
Sandra was in her final year of school, and she had a network of friends,
Like the grape, starry nights of luxury, that pink, velvet moon portends.
Other family didn't live very far, in warm days of color and forget me nots,
Often playing with their frisky feline, against summer's mosaic backdrop.
She and her fellow classmates had thesises, on many different life topics.
......
hope yet to come
Blocks of pavement down the street,
lead me to that place so bleak;
One foot in front of the other,
This day is the same, just another.
Walk to school in silence,
Clouds gather round and twirl like daisies
I dont need their guidance
Rests on the pavement down the street,
......