Nima+O.


 * //Poems about Racism//

"Strange Fruit" by Seamus Heaney ** Here is the girl's head like an exhumed gourd. Oval-faced, prune-skinned, prune-stones for teeth. They unswaddled the wet fern of her hair And made an exhibition of its coil, Let the air at her leathery beauty. Pash of tallow, perishable treasure: Her broken nose is dark as a turf clod, Her eyeholes [|blank as pools] in the old workings. [|Diodorus Siculus] confessed His gradual ease with the likes of this: Murdered, forgotten, nameless, terrible Beheaded girl, outstaring axe And beatification, outstaring What had begun to feel like reverence.


 * __"I, too, sing America". Author unknown__**

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. Those four black girls blown up in that Alabama church remind me of five hundred middle passage blacks, in a net, under water in Charleston harbor so redcoats wouldn't find them. Can't find what you can't see can you? Your door is shutagainst my tightened face, And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent. The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet, [|A chafing savage], down the decent street; And passion rends my vitals as I pass, Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass. Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour, Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw, And find in it the superhuman power To hold me to the letter of your law! Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate. Two months after marching through Boston, half the regiment was dead...The stone statues of the abstract [|Union Soldier]grow slimmer and younger each year-- wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets and muse through their sideburns. . . Shaw's father wanted no monument except the ditch, where his son's body was thrown [|and lost with his "niggers."].

**__"Racism still sadly continues"__**

Racism comes in many different shapes and forms Sadly I have had my fair share since I’ve been born Judged before I have been even given a chance Delaying my future and for my career to advance

My parents tell me of stories they have had to endure I wish racism was a sickness with a dose of medication to cure Thankfully there are good hearted and educated people Who can look beyond skin colour and treat us all as an equal

Why would another person’s skin colour be such an issue? Get to know them; they might have things in common just like you I am so fed up of hearing “They from so and so, they all the same” Everyone has differences but skin colour is not to blame

I wonder sometimes is it because the racist themselves are afraid to mix Who knows, I am only looking for a solution to get it fixedIt’s a major problem none of us like or need, How sad to hear, a racist sees skin colour the only reason to want to make you bleed You see films like [|‘Mississippi Burning’]I think to myself that was then but when are racist going to start learning?

If humans never saw in colour, what would it be like then? I am sure everyone would get along and call each other friend I hope my kids and the next generation never get to witness racism first hand Lets pray for them racism was a issue in the past that no longer stands

Life is hard as it is, without the need of racism Like supporting our family and giving our kids a good education Ways to stop racism should begin at home and [|school]Getting along will be our biggest advantage, our strongest tool I did have people who I did call friends But their own racist views meant our friendship had to end

It does not matter, if your white, black or brown You should feel safe to walk and talk in any town Racism has to be erased from every country and every street Knowing racism is not an issue when theirs someone new we meet Everyone has the right to go anywhere they choose Because whilst racism is still alive, no one wins, everybody lose

To those facing racism, all I can say is be brave and stay strong To those racist, deep down in your heart you must know it’s wrong? God blessed us by putting us here, giving us all different shades of colour Were not meant to have the same colour skin, but we all can respect one another

[|Martin Luther King Jr] said in 1963 “I have a dream” But up to now it has yet to be seen

21.04.08

Amit Chubbah


 * __The Wrap up__**

The similarities of these poems is that they all talk down to racism. Some talk about about racism in different parts of the world. The theme is very evident in all these poems becuase they go into the brutality which occurs during racisms. The poem that had the most effect on me was "Strange Fruit" becuase it showed details about the torture which blacks went through during the 19050's in Ireland.