Anthony’s Abstract
By: Anthony Adewumi

They say to be great is to be misunderstood-
So that means my dreams are detrimental,
Plagued with positivity -
In a world that’s immune to the intelligence of an influential,
Anchored by ambition; flown with faith,
Crawl with the condemned and sway the sinner into a saint
Saint Anthony…recovers that which went adrift
Enlighten inspiration for those hidden in the apathetic mist
Be the guide for the blind and be harkened by the deaf,
The cerebral for the senseless so the broke can be helped
Be as heavenly as the cherub but wiser than the serpent-
Be the net to catch a fallen spirit before it hits the surface
The lyrics to a legacy; the pupils of the eyes-
That looks into the soul and sees I no longer fear my demise
Ashes I came and dust I shall return-
Only to fertilize the Earth and grow blessings through the ferns
Reincarnate through the rhymes and eternalized in the epics
Speak through the scriptures and convince the skeptics
Put prophesy in the pen and prayer in the poetry
For many can sketch conclusions-
But only I can draw the art that flows through me.

From a Slave to the White House
By: Anthony Adewumi

Before five score years,
When the Mississippi flowed with blood and tears-
Blood from the heels of the Negro who worked in the fields
Tears from the Negro mother who saw her child be sold when she first came here-
Here in the land where you take a man, beat him and mistreat him
Make him build the land of liberty but grant him not the chance to live in the freedom
Give him his body but confiscate his mind
They figured since his skin was dark, so should his inside
Then shed a little light on him with the 13th amendment
His flesh his now free but his soul still hangs like a pendant
Drown his dreams with the water hose and scar his heart with the dog bites
Restrict him from the white only seats and beat him for doing no wrong-
When he marched for his rights,
Throw my people in jail for refusing to sit behind and disfigure us till-
We emit sorrow and apathy towards the Lord’s will,
But the Lord is all we had and all we needed to persevere
So all the labor we sowed into this land has finally reaped loud and clear
The spirit that spoke on that August 28th and gave the Dream a voice
Is the same spirit that brought change to America on November 4th,
So today is not just history, today is deliverance,
For my people are no longer excused by ignorance
No more restriction on our dreams or enslavement on our minds,
So please be radiant even when the world shouts “Lights out!”
Because there is no room for darkness in a man who has come from being a slave-
To being the White House

Wordplay

by

Avery Nelson

Knock, knock…

Who’s there?

Nobody is in your presence

If you are nobody… Nobody than why are you here?

Because nobody is in your presence

See in your eyes everybody

Is below you so no one can relate

But in reality to everybody you are a nobody

Like an outcast state

You are so wrapped up in your own world

Believe that you are a king

A king with neither peasant nor queen

And your crown is nowhere to be seen

Such a sad story

But keep being revolutionary

For someone has to be active

To keep the word in the dictionary