Poem#1 - Brandi Robinson

Brandi Robinson

Im not a prophet
but sometimes I have prophetic dreams
Like the one I had last night, a life changing event for me

See, never before have I experienced any other

Series of mental images during my slumber

That has had the ability to completely overpower every entity of my mindset

Question: you forget everything you thought you knew to be true

Tell me what it is you donow

Before you think Ive lost my mind

Im asking that you give me just a brief moment of your time

So that I can share with you this prophetic dream of mine
See what had happened was

I yawned, stretched, wiped the sleep from my eyes
And realized, that I had been ejected from the life I knew as mine

And currently standing somewhere on the negative side of the timeline

I carefully pan my surroundings

Shocked and in awe this is what I see

A beautiful, full-figured woman of color on her hands and knees

Scrubbing the kitchen floor of a white mans mansion as she sings

Oh you cant go to heaven in a rocking chair
Cause the Lord dont want no lazy folk there

She completes this task and

Gathers the household laundry in a basket

To be completed by the morning

All for $1.50 worth of earnings

Lights dim, room spins, scene ends BREAK

I yawned, stretched, wiped the sleep from my eyes

And realized, that Ive progressed a little further down this timeline

I carefully pan my surroundings

And to my surprise this is what I see

A black man, in the fetal position on the concrete

As he is defenselessly beat then attacked by dogs alternately

All because he walked too close to a white man down the street

Lights dim, room spins, scene ends BREAK

I yawned, stretched, wiped the sleep from my eyes

And realized, that yet again, Ive progressed down this timeline

I carefully pan my surroundings

The lights blink and flash freeze frames is all I see

Of a strapping male, bill of sale, sold to the highest bidder

Fertile gal, behaves well, sold you got yourself a winner

If black, stay backwhites only here
You know the rulescoloreds only served in the rear

Segregation, education, separate but equal

Little Rock 9, 4 Little Girls, someone call the people

Sit-ins, rebellions, bombings and lynchins

All of this I witness, someones gotta end this - break

Present day, impressive resume but Im sorry the position has been filled

Your promotion request has been denied, try again next year

Lights dim, room spins, scene ends - BREAK

In the event that youve failed to connect

The parallels that the aforementioned stories possess

Allow me to keep you abreast

Take pride in your stride, someone worked hard for the those steps

Seize the day and love you life, someone died for those breaths

Take nothing for granted, youre here because of the blood and sweat of someone else

You feel me?

See, Ima little fearful that the moral of this storyline

Has been lost within the lines of this rhyme

So Im letting you know the following lines wont rhyme:

Every aspect of our lives is a luxury not earned by us. This is not an attempt to down-play your efforts but simply get you to see that you are here because of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears of those before us. Continue to inspire change, just dont forget to simultaneously honor tradition.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• JCSU
• Add Your Voice
• Johnson C. Smith
• Golden Bulls
• Poetry

[genocideh]

wow..this poem is just awesome! Thank you for sharing and continue to write my sister. This blessed me foreal

[luckycharms64]

i love this

[fista10000]

Ms. Brandi Robinson, I am very moved by your poem. It's quite a touching poem, well written and presented. I hope we are all listening to your lyrics. Quite powerful. My mother's maiden name was Robinson. I feel very proud of you.

Joshua Spencer