Pride (For Black History Month) *redone From Open Fist Poem by Cena Rose

Walking hard on a dim path
Days I laugh
At the clarity of their vulgarity
Chosen with a transparency from their stupidity

With their condescending,
Overwhelming,
Disconnecting
Words to me.

Like birds
Fluttering in the distance
Obscuring the completeness
Of that sunset.

No.

I have not seen it.
And the skies are still clouded with hate
And they will not dissipate
For shooting down the birds of words
Is no less than their own
Hangings and bannings

No word is written in stone,
But action acknowledged of their own
So, we live in a society of “opportunity”
With no decency to see beyond the surface

My surface.

You see my path is a blackened glove
Slid on with purpose
And I must think of above
Knowing that God made me out of love.
And who said black is not love?

Who said black is not love?

When I see my brothers on the street fighting
Biting each other’s necks and checks
I just want to embrace them

When I see my ladies on the street
Crying in beat down gutters
I shudder at the memories they always recover

But this ain’t no stereotypesness
This ain’t no karyotypeness

This is our opportunity to rise above and love our
Uniqueness

For today I will always flair my nose
And stick to my prose
For I have nothing to hide

I will pout my lips,
Show I’m not afraid of no fist.

Hoping to change the close minds and teeth grinds
Of those who think that- now ain’t the time?
Because now is always the time

Thinking of Martin Luther King
Who knew what peace would bring
And whose voice will always ring
And our minds will always sing
The words of this true king

I have a dream of equality- he said
Nonviolence, he spread
As he led this nation from discrimination
All the way to President Obama’s Inauguration.





Wrote in honor of black history month and to celebrate my own heritage for I am a proud black/African-American women and wish to share that with the world. No one should be discouraged because of the color of their skin or where they came from, but the ‘content of their heart’ as Martin Luther King Jr. once so wisely said. And so is my poem’s theme and title: Pride.