So, last week I published my first article for the Odyssey. I wrote a review about 'Black Panther,' and I also wrote some poems inspired by the movie! I hope you enjoy them just as much as I do!
Let Me Get Them There
Let me get them there so they can witness it
Let me get them there so they can feel it
Let me get them there so they can believe it
Let me get them there so they can be apart of it.
I watched her eyes get lost in the screen
I watched her life get lost in the screen
In her mind, she was joining the Dora Milaje
Saying: “I could do that.”
I watched his eyes scan the screen
Looking through T’Challa to see himself standing right behind him
Reality has just been elevated.
They came through the clouds with their bright lights
And all day it’s been a fight for the right to survive
And all of the stars seemed so high
Today they believe if they can stretch just a bit
Stand on their toes, with just a lift
The stars would become closer.
The unobtainable best selves they dream of
The unrealistic hopes they dream up
The confidence the Panther has given us
In Blackness
We Trust.
May my little siblings dripping in melanin
Find some heart
Find some passion
Find some hope
Everyday.
Where are Your Chains
With a vibranium heart
I accept any challenge
Because what you throw at me
I can throw back harder
I’m a gentle warrior
But don’t you dare tempt me
I’d do anything for my country
Wakanda.
I stood on mountains and reached out at the city at the bottom
I look straight up and see my footprints on the moon
Much of potential was stolen by slavery
They snatched me off my land
They thought they would limit where I could land
But little did they know because I will never forget
My ancestor’s dreams became my own
And as I break away from the boxed mindset of false pride or inescapable doom
I am gleam as I’m released from the shackles you formerly latched to my feet.
Masta’ walks over to me and asks:
“How are you moving freely- where are your chains?”
I reply: “Sorry Sir, I lost ’em.”
But Wakanda
So used to not being useful
So used to being used only for you
So used to feeling useless when it comes to achieving my top usefulness
So used to hearing all those who use me silently ridicule me
So used to being used
But Wakanda…
But Wakanda…
Told me that I didn’t have to be.
And that I can use myself for myself by myself
I can grow myself
I can manage myself
I can own myself
I can build, myself
I can build myself
I can change myself
I can free myself
I can need myself
I can want myself
I can belong to myself
I can reside in myself
I can define myself
I can elevate myself
I can know myself
I can discover myself.
