Mikalah's Poem: The Little Black Bench
The Little Black Bench
The little black bench
Lonely
Waiting
Looking at me with endless anticipation
Like a dog begging for food
Split in two
Two pegs
Planted helplessly onto a pile of muck
sinking into the endless reality
The leftovers that no one wanted
Sinking and sinking
One day, never to return from what has
Captured it
The little black boy
Scared and waiting
Looking at me with endless anticipation
Like a dog begging for food
A mother on drugs, like a curse placed on a castle
Sitting, in the rain, fatherless
Waiting like a lost lamb
Jesus says
“You are the lost sheep and I am the shepherd
I will do anything for the sheep.”
As His voice cries,
Somebody take this baby in
The black bench
With rungs across the side
And scratches scaring all directions
Sitting between two faces
A bottle of broken glass
A stick of something other than tobacco rolled up tight
And a piece of laughter
Laughing in the place of the little crying boy
Laughing as he watches his mother lite another
Laughing as the boys future along with his little brothers
Are thrown into the trash, a bag of nothing
Graceful hands eager to understand
Pulled the lost out of the chaos
By the hope of a shooting star sent from the heavens
A new unfamiliar place the boys stumble in
Black skin crawling over their self esteem
Like a mosquito biting away a baby’s flesh
Just in a moment
When rain has finally stopped
I move out from under the tree
While the bench is still sprinkled with clear crystal drops
Cold to the touch
A hint of green blooms out
It’s little leaves leaping
In a game of peek-a-boo
People say nothing good can come out of Lawndale
It sits a dried up desert gasping for air
Rain decided to fall
When the generation of ages past
Were wiped away by the motivation that
Separates the hope of the future
With the mistake of the past
I never understood the meaning`
Of how much you were needed
And when you’re gone
I stand wondering what I will do
And one day I will answer to
How I made a home
on the little black bench
This was a very intesting how the you compared African American reality and how you took your community and put it in poetic form
ReplyDeleteThis poem is really good because you took a part of your community and inserted it into your poem so that it held a piece of you inside of it
ReplyDeleteThat was a Great Poem! It was so deep and meaningful, and the way you preformed it gave your presentation a really good touch. This was spectacular and keep writing!
ReplyDeleteMikalah- I cannot explain in deeper words that you are a poet to the heart and take others' experience, put it into your words, and let others still experience it. I love this poem so much and I hope you keep writing poetry because you can tell others stories and help them help others. By far this is the best poem I have heard! Amazing phenomenal job!!!
ReplyDeleteMikalah, this poem is amazing! I love how you describe the black bench and the black boy and the relationship between the two with lots of personification and imagery. I also loved how you created many realistic events the boy has to go through as his life turns out to be difficult and unfair. Overall, this poem is excellent, and I will be looking forward to the poems that you will be writing in the future!
ReplyDeleteTHAT WAS AMAZING!!!! First off, the way you presented that poem gave me chills and moved me. You are like a real poet I loved that so much. I can tell how much your brother means to you and that poem represented him beautifully. I have an adopted sister so I could totally connect to what you were talking about but I don't think I could have made a poem so great about her. Well done Mikalah, I know your brother would be proud if he could've just witnessed that and I don't think it could've been better.
ReplyDeleteWow, this poem was excellent, and the way you presented it a simply brilliant. The way you used such descriptive wording was so amazing, it made the poem so much better. All of your poems that you have presented have portrayed beauty and peace, but this poem was by far my favorite, excellent work Mikalah, please keep writing poetry. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat poem! The little black bench is likely a metaphor for something, but it doesn't matter. There are so many good things in the poem, I don't know where to start. Amazing poem!
ReplyDeleteWow, this poem was truly amazing! I love the language you used and how you repeated some lines to put emphasis on them. I also felt very connected to the poem because of your multi modal component. You have so much confidence when presenting and your voice pulled me in so I could hear and understand everything you were saying. I could not relate to this much, but I understood and felt like I could because of your poem, amazing job!
ReplyDeleteThis poem is super good! This is about something that I can´t relate to but you described the experience so it was almost like I was there with you the whole time! Correct me if I am wrong, but is this about taking in an African American child that had a lot of family struggles? I am not quite sure but I can tell that you are an amazing poet and I really and truly believe that you should keep writing poetry. Amazing work!
ReplyDelete-Lucy
Thanks so much! Yes, it can quite a struggle, especially because we adopted three at the same time and then added another one a couple years later. It was really hard for my parents but it was worth it.
DeleteMikalah, your poem was amazing! It was very deep and meaningful. You performed it in a way that was very persuasive and convincing that the listeners could get an understanding of how you felt. I know that if your brother heard this, he would've been proud. Amazing job Mikalah!
ReplyDeleteI like how your poem has multiple stories but they all came back to a story about where you live and you. The stories told problems in your life and other's lives too. It was a very good poem that was made with passion.
ReplyDeleteI like now you tie this poem into your life and the lives of others, and where you live I also like how you described this bench. I know what these benches look and feel, and it is great how you then put all of this into a spoken word poem
ReplyDeletethis poem was great and it reminded me of my soon to be cousins because they were with their mom who was on drugs and they were homeless but went to a public school. my aunt who is the principal of the school found out that they were homeless and found them and started to take care of them. they are now going through the adoption process and they will soon be my cousins. they also are nice because they think they need to be nice st that they wont be thrown out of the house again. the poem was really good and I can connect completely wih you and how this black boy has changed and what he struggled through.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that with me Miles!
DeleteOh. My. Gosh. That was amazing, Mikalah. I loved the similes you used in your. I think this would be the perfect poem to try annotating and thinking about the meaning of this poem. You created the perfect image of your brother and how much you care about him. I also love the way you presented. You made sure people knew you loved your brother and what you would do for your brother. I love love love how you built off of sitting on a bench outside of your school. It was just amazing! Amazing Job!!
ReplyDeleteYour poem was truly great. You shared another part of yourself with the class. I can't really relate to it but I feel the hope and care that you expressed for the boy in your poem. I feel like your poem really shows another part of your identity.
ReplyDeleteMikalah, your poem was amazing. It gave a lot of insight on your life and showed how much love and care you have for your brothers. I can't personally relate to the poem but all the details and emotions you included in the poem made me feel like I was experiencing it with you. Great Job!
ReplyDeletei liked how you talked about the reailty that black people face and then talked abotu your commuinty and jesus being a very big part in your life
ReplyDelete