English 2367

[evkenn17]

Group Project- Anti-War/Violence

Now every woman and every man They wanna take a righteous stand Find the love that God wills And the faith that He commands I've got my finger on the trigger And tonight faith just ain't enough When I look inside my heart There's just devils and dust Well I've got God on my side And I'm just trying to survive What if what you do to survive Kills the things you love Fear's a dangerous thing It can turn your heart black you can trust It'll take your God filled soul Fill it with devils and dust Yeah it'll take your God filled soul Fill it with devils and dust

-from Bruce Springsteen's "Devils & Dust"

[poetryofresistance]

"If there are flowers flowers must come out of the road.”

Young Afrikans by Gwendolyn Brooks (via poetryofresistance)

[theoakwa]

I am woman and not white.

"A Woman Speaks" (Lorde). (via theoakwa)

Every line that Audre Lorde writes is so blunt and powerful

[rsparksblog]

"I tried to find myself all night."

seven testimonies (redacted). Nick Flynn.  (via rsparksblog)

[zachrobertson-blog]

"Fred Sanford’s on in a few & I got the dandruff-free head & shoulders of white people & a cheeseburger belly & a Thriller CD & Nike high tops & slavery’s dead & the TV’s my daddy—

-What I am By Terrence Hayes

[evkenn17]

I love how Terrance Hayes writes in a run-on style, reflecting his run-on thoughts and all of the emotions he feels towards the confusion of being a different race and having people judge you for it.

[syerington]

Tell me why fire yearns for the heart.

Juan Felipe Herrera, “Half Punk Panther” (via syerington)

interesting take on a common idea, usually we hear that the heart yearns for fire or passion

[aldengardiner]

I tell you it was necessary: violence had to preface such beauty.

-Ricky Laurentiis, “No Ararat”

[evkenn17]

I've often heard of the phrase "pain before beauty" which reminds me of this poem. Sometimes suffering for something makes the eventual positive outcome that much more worth it.

[kaleymeyers]

Until someone calls time and they’re done, and everything becomes what it was.

"The Court of Forgetting" -James Hoch (via kaleymeyers)

sometimes we think we need to escape, yet maybe we take this for granted because we aren't escaping from life altering abusive situations

[jakestankey54]

"I was thinking how the songs coming from the radio were like the speech of a single human American psyche"

Techno DANA LEVIN

[evkenn17]

sometimes we forget how much our habits define us

[brittanycastrataro]

I have never wanted another life, but I know the story of pursuit: the dream of a gate standing open, a grill and folding chairs, a new yard boxed in light.

Terrance Hayes, “Root”

#new life #fresh start #joyfulness 

(via brittanycastrataro)

This is a perfect description of what most people want- they don't want something completely different, yet they never are content with what they have

[evkenn17]

No Cape Needed

In my mind

He was a superhero

Fighting crime and getting home

In time for dinner

He flew around

In pursuit of justice

Not just against his enemies

But all who sought

The unhappiness of others

He fought not with x-ray vision

Or lightening speed

But with logic and defiance

And not against laughing villains

But against judgment

And inequality

When all seemed hopeless

He put on his mask

And rushed to the scene

A master of the difference

Between arrogance and pride

He remained humble

“Only here to save the day”

He said

He never shied from danger

And fury never stopped him

But it stops me

Because history does not see

What I see

They see only his difference

The crimes he fights

They blame him for

And history just remembers

The color

Of my daddy’s skin

[aldengardiner]

"My enemies ride jets to parties. They are not tied up in pens in Guantanamo Bay."

-Aracelis Girmay, “Arroz Poetica”

[evkenn17]

This shows a slight income gap argument, also citing political views.

[alyssagwin]

"This is a love letter to the Gulf Coast, a praise song, a dirge,

invocation and benediction, a requiem for the Gulf Coast.”

Liturgy to the Mississippi Gulf Coast - Natasha Trethewey 

[evkenn17]

Trethewey has been quotes saying that after she wrote about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina through her poems, she felt at peace.

[evkenn17]

"My God, I whispered. The radio said there is no god."

-Ricky Laurentiis, "No Ararat"

[evkenn17]

"The sky shook off his clothes and was brilliant. I tell you it was 

necessary: violence had to preface such beauty."

-Ricky Laurentiis, "No Ararat"

[evkenn17]

"This is a time capsule for the Coast: words of the people —don’t forget us—"

-Natasha Trethewey, "Liturgy to the Mississippi Gulf Coast"

[evkenn17]

"A farmer I was, twenty -two on the ground--hands feet back fists & blood."

-Nick Flynn, "seven testimonies"