Just to preface this poem, I'd like to say that i wrote this for a class. In this class, we look at Young Adult Literature and think about how young adults would relate to a text. The book that I "found" this poem in is called Copper Sun and goes through the struggles of a young girl made slave.
As a creative writing major, the prospect of writing a poem is fun. I love poetry. When writing a found poem, you take something that has already been written (in this case, Copper Sun) and take out words or phrases to create something new and your own.
What words you choose say a lot about how you feel about the text, so for my class we had to write about why we chose the words we did. I wrote mine like this because it talks about identity and how unlikely it was that a slave could get away. These words highlight not only how the slave-owners saw their slaves, but also how this particular slave saw herself, and her name.
Although we are not in a period of slavery, I think this assignment was important, because slavery was a major part of history. It's not something that I, as a mixed person, can act like just didn't happen. Slavery was real, it was brutal, and it tore apart how people saw themselves for literally 500 years. After reading this book, not only could I understand slavery better on a personal level, but I don't understand why people don't understand why "All Lives Matter" is kind of offensive. The reason the Black Lives Matter Movement was necessary (and still is) is because black people were oppressed for so long that they need to be recognized as a people in need.
Anyway, now that my poem is introduced, here it is.
Slave
I shall name her Myna, because she is mine.
Can you handle that animal? Yessuh.
The trees bent over,
exhausted from the heat.
This is going to be my chance
to make something of myself.
I shall not let anything or anyone
get in my way.
You are Myna.
Can you say Myna?
Amari.
No, Myna.
Are you a good shot?
No, sir.
then, may God have mercy on all of you .
Not Myna no more.
Amari.
Free.
