It's Growing, by Antroy Wolfe

Like a snow ball rolling down the side of a snow-covered hill
it's growing
like the size of the fish that the main claims broke his reel
it's growing
like the rose bud blooming in the warmth of the summer sun
it's growing
like the tale by the time it's been told by more than one
it's growing

Every day it grows a little more than it was the day before
my love for you just grows and grows
and where it's going to stop I'm sure nobody knows

like the need in a guy to see his girl when she's gone away
it's growing
like the sadness in his heart when he knows that she's gone to stay
it's growing

it gets a little wider
nobody knows
it's gets a little stronger
the feeling from each kiss
it lasts a little longer
Can't you see us growing baby
it grows and grows and grows.

Where I Am Now, by Litany Lineberry

I am at a crossroad entwined within two paradigms,
done with my past but still looking toward my future.
I am growing each minute, each day, through self-motivation.
My blood is shivering in my body because I made it.
I am no longer wishing for a day with a presidential hopeful.
Nor reminiscing on a change to happen in America.
"Theme for English B" was written and today was read with fresh eyes.
Equally united through the passage of our past and present,
I am proud that Jena Six happened to show unity and that Jim Crow
did not gain an inch in this historic milestone.
I am pressing forward with my future being bright because I know
that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is
Where I Am Now!

Where I am Now, by Tom Cassidy

I am grown and I am ready.
I wonder about my home and the air.
I hear a gurgling call urging me on
whileI see a speck through the green.
I want to be there, I want to go.

I am ready and I am grown
I pretend to be still.
I feel the air beneath me and I touch it.
I worry about nothing.
I cry my cry for you, for you.
I am ready. I am grown

I understand short life;
I scream it to the world,
I say "You! You!" while I dream
the dreams of life.
I try to hide on rooftops,
and when I scan my horizon,
I hope to see myself in your eyes.
I am grown. I am ready.

In the Colored Waiting Room, by Hammond Wylie

At the dentist's, when I was a little boy,
I waited with our maid.
She said,"Sit down Pup; be still."

In the Colored Waiting Room
the magazines were tattered.
I had seen those magazines before
in the other, cleaner room,
another time when I went with Grandmamma
to the dentist.

This time the room smelled funny,
like medicine and sweat.
There were colored boys and girls with their mamas.

And a white boy I knew from church was there.
Ricky Jones.
He said his maid Cortez was a nigger.
He said Margaret was a nigger too.
I told him she was not and decided not to like Ricky Jones anymore.

When we left the dentist's office,
we went to my father's drugstore,
up the block,
here I proudly showed off my new teeth
and drank a Coke for being such a good boy.

As we walked home, down Pressley Street
I asked, "Margaret, are you a nigger?"
She said, "No. No one is a nigger in this world."
I'm colored, like the door says."

I was satisfied with this
and asked her about bumblebees.

Where I'm From, by Tamara Miles

I'm from a papa preacher, Oscar Floyd Moon,
when church starts at 9:30, I mean 9:30, not 9:31.
I am from his bride, Dolly Jeanette, her hair braided and coiled,
her patchwork quilts for everyday use
(Thank you, Alice Walker).
When I said I love you, Granny Moon said, Bless you.
I am from people who missed school picking cotton,
an uncle whose first check from his first job bought
school lunches for the rest of the year for his eleven brothers and sisters,
who had previously gone without lunch or ate with some embarrassment
a cold biscuit from home.

I am from the Rook-playing crippled hands of my Aunt Sissie,
Moon Pies and RC's and an old wringer washer.
I am from that little red-haired girl adored by Charlie Brown,
and from a real red-haired girl, my mother, Sylvia,
who liked to play tennis and Scrabble and ride bikes on healthy legs
but died earlier this year in a nursing home, legs and heart
and mind and lungs drawn up from multiple sclerosis.
I am from that moment, holding her while she took her last breath,
a lonelier person with a greater appreciation of heaven.

I am from a drunken father, likeable enough now, too old to
cat around or beat his wife. Sober. He has gout, diabetes, arthritis,
heart disease, and only one kidney. We go to the movies, hold hands
during the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
We laugh, I love him.

I am from Jillian Delaney Miles, born to me at 6:23 on September 23, 1990,
who cried incessantly and didn't sleep all night til she was three, and then
discovered her joy. I am from Mommy, it's 7:30 and I've got a cowlick,
and When's the baby coming back? When I told her her unborn baby sister
had died. I am from the last time she fell asleep in my arms, when she was four,
and I knew somehow it was the last time. I am from last weekend, watching with
my seventeen year old Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and recognizing the ghost
of Christmas Past.

Where I Am Now, by Charles Nightingale

I am sincere/bold.

I wonder why humanity continues to reject peaceful negotiation for belligerent solutions.

I hear birds singing harmoniously.

I see unity in diversity with all our many splendored hues.

I want East and West to join hands.

I am sincere/bold.

I pretend I am a world traveler: India, Alaska, South America.

I feel more anxious than I should about society's crumbling.

I touch the future reality of the oneness of all religions.

I worry that God may run out of second chances for us to do the next right thing.

I cry that young people are so frequently incarcerated.

I understand the future is incalculably bright but tomorrow is still overwhelming.

I say Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God has come.

I dream all of we are one family, all of we are one family.

I try to teach let go and let God.

I hope the year 2021 will witness Mt Carmel [that is Haifa, Israel] hosting multitudes of Christians, Jews, and Moslems, too.

I am sincere/bold.

Where I Am Now, by Tembi Gray

I am a woman strong and passionate

I wonder why so many people are afraid of change

I hear the sound of tears of joy hitting the pavement just as the rain falls from heaven above

I see the reflection of the sunrise upon the oceans waves as its beauty radiates the sky the same way a painter uses precision and color to change a blank canvas into a work of art

I want a cappuccino from Starbucks, the one thing missing in Orangeburg where I live

I am a woman strong and passionate

I pretend to play house with my daughter as she becomes the mother and I digress into a child like manner and exercise my imagination and watch as hers is as its prime

I feel excited about the direction of my life although the entire plan has not been revealed but I continue to walk by faith and try not to depend so much in what I see

I touch the ruff surface of my grandmothers hands knowing that is the symbol of strength and love for without her unselfish acts I know that I would not be where I am today

I worry about whether or not my pen will capture the true manifestations of my heart and mind when at times words cannot explain my feelings

I cry when I see the faces of people living in poverty when we the US of A has millions of people so consumed in what I can get for mine without even thinking about so much as another

I am a woman, strong and passionate

I understand that God is the creator and owns the cattle on a thousand hills and I am his daughter so that makes me a beneficiary

I say true success is when opportunity meets preparation; I am sure that we’ve all heard the saying that is you fail to plan then plan to fail

I dream sometimes about growing old with my husband sitting on a porch drinking ice tea as we listen to the sounds of our great grand children laughing like the sounds of a majestic choir

I try to share my poetry with as many who will listen because telling it is the completion to writing it

I hope that my passion and strength was reflected in the word that I’ve written because

I am a woman, strong and passionate