Myam Erica
By TH
Myam Erica
Where you’re either struck
With poverty late or born
With next to nothing..
Where your wealth is determined
By what drugs you’re smoking..
No father figure,
So the hustlers get put on pedestals,
And parents use their kids as everyday drug mules..
Myam Erica
Where I’m labeled as a product of my environment
Conditioned to believe my power came from a prison sentence..
No hood affiliation is seen as a major flaw..
And our number 1 goal in life
Is to simply break the law..
Myam Erica
Where we learn more from music than our school books..
And the first thing we practice is not a jumpshot,
But our “cold Killer look”..
No time for dull moments, so we search for our fun..
But the games we play
Always deal with bullets and a gun..
See, I could paint a vivid picture
With a brushstroke like Picasso..
Or turn experience into music
Like your favorite singer with their piano..
Show off my intelligence
And let them know we can better us..
But that would go against everything taught in…
My America
8 Comments
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Brilliant.
TH, your poem is very moving. I loved how you described the experiences and lifestyle that your were subject to that shaped the individual you are and described it as your America. Let the negative experiences lead you to the positive ones that your future beholds.
Great poem!
I had to read this twice so that I can envision everything you wrote down to form a graphic story in my mind.
I really like this one!
MM
TH,
Wow! You are saying some very powerful things here. The line that hits me the most is “But that would go against everything taught in…My America” because you are so right that we are not taught to be creative. Thank-you for creating something beautiful here. You have some very important things to say and I would love to read more from you. Thank-you!
As a writer of short stories and novels I have always really appreciated poets who can say so much with such brevity. Your short lines are much more powerful than some long books I’ve read. There are so many that jump out at me but this stanza really wowed me:
“Where we learn more from music than our school books..
And the first thing we practice is not a jumpshot,
But our “cold Killer look”..
No time for dull moments, so we search for our fun..
But the games we play
Always deal with bullets and a gun..”
You have so perfectly captured part of America in this moment. Your poem is a call to action – a call to all of us to change.
Thank you for your comment – I know TH will be thrilled to get such positive feedback from another writer. We hope you’ll keep coming back!
I think this poem is quite brilliant, and the simmering, barely-concealed rage underneath makes me catch my breath. I want to respond with a poem by Langston Hughes that I think you might appreciate. I´m only posting part of it because it´s a long poem, but I would highly recommend all of his poetry to you.
LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain-
All, all the stretch of these great green states-
And make America again!
Sarah, thank you for all of your thoughtful comments. We’re mailing this to TH today, and we know he’ll be excited to receive it – he was especially excited to share this poem and see what people thought, as it’s different from his usual style. TH and all of our writers thrive on this sort of feedback, so thank you again and keep it coming!