Project Semicolon: A Free Verse Poem | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

Project Semicolon: A Free Verse Poem

My Story Isn't Over Yet.

103
Project Semicolon: A Free Verse Poem
story.projectsemicolon.com

Project Semicolon: A Free Verse Poem
by Patrick J. Derilus


Poem:

my story would seem like it ended
when i became tired, when i
gave up, or whenever the clock
struck twelve, when we still coerce one
another to believe the white amerikkkan
dream is an infallibly, idyllic endeavor.

my story began a few years ago,
when i no longer withheld feverish tears,
that rolled down the fleshly cheekbones of
my Black skin, when i carved through my wood
desk the word ‘die’ as a teenage boy. deathly ideations
of my inescapable pain, ascending from my flesh
in dejected hope that it would appease my loved ones.

my mental illnesses are not a
white person's problem because:

White supremacist magistrate

richard Rikers, makes Black boys
like twenty-two-year-old
kalief browder kill themselves;

kid cudi penned a handwritten
death note expressing his ongoing,
internal enmity against suicide;

dj quik
expressed 50 Ways to
keep himself from going under:
feelings of uncertainty, depression,
oppressive pressure that comes with
hedonistic materialism of
hip-hop culture and fame

tupac amaru shakur
achingly cried, laboriously jotting
impoverishment of our Black kindred,
unending police brutality, mass incarceration

dmx
kept seeing
himself fall apart,

isaiah
rashad wants us to
hug our Black kindred
before we cannot,

and it has been five years
since nineteen-year-old
STEEZ’s suicide.

death need not know
that i am aware that it
follows my Black body--
continuous
breaking-point-

afterthoughts leap,
"why should i care if i
died anyway?"

a semicolon tattooed on a

Black man's skin means he has

lived to tell his story, calling to
other Black men, permitting ourselves
to feel, crying until
our tear ducts ran dry

affirming our
Black feelings,
valid,

real.
Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

The Post Thanksgiving Panic And Anxiety

It happens to all of us, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas the catch up with you.

63
studying

Thanksgiving Break is most likely everyone’s favorite break during the fall semester. You get to go home and reminisce with all your high school friends. That diet you’ve been on for the past month goes out the window, and you get to eat until you put yourself into a food coma. There’s no rush on homework and you can just lie in bed and Netflix to your heart’s content. To me that sounds like an ideally wonderful break, and totally stress-free.

Keep Reading...Show less
Grey's Anatomy

Even Shonda Rhimes, winning creator and executive producer of the hit TV shows Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Catch agrees that relationships with fictional characters are real. In her book, The Year of Yes she states, "I have spent more time with Meredith and Christina then many of my actual friends...When you watched TV, even spending a full hour with Christina once a week, you were likely spending more time with her then you spent with most people in your life. That relationship was real."

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

13 Ways To Become More Festive

How to make the holidays more merry and bright!

1511
winter
Pinterest

Why hello there December! It seems like we just had a holiday season, but here we are a year later starting a new one with our stomachs full and hearts overflowing with thankfulness. If you're anything like me and didn't realize just how close the holiday season was approaching, we need to perk our spirits up for the most wonderful time of the year! Fortunately you have someone on the nice list like myself who can help you out with tips and tricks to become more bright eyed and bushy tailed about this holiday season.

Keep Reading...Show less
dumbbell
Twist Photography

Going to the gym and working out on a daily basis (with breaks once in awhile) has been a great way for me to feel good about myself. It is 100% more than just looking good. Especially after starting college and having the stress and anxiety of tests, assignments, and just figuring out my future, the gym at my school has definitely been a place of relief for me and I have numerous reasons of why everyone should push themselves to get to the gym when they can.

Keep Reading...Show less
shameless
Tube Filter

Sometimes you need a break. A break from school, studying, work, anything that life throws at you. We are all guilty of binge watching a show that we just cannot get enough of. I know that I've gotten so fixated on a show that there have been entire days that I have day-dreamed about getting home and watching a particular show. Next time you find yourself having an urge to binge watch a series be sure, to check out the following.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments