America, 1963 | Teen Ink

America, 1963

February 9, 2016
By jnbrown SILVER, Meredith, New Hampshire
jnbrown SILVER, Meredith, New Hampshire
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone." - Vita Sackville-West


A baby cries in Harlem:

his mother, mournful, sighs

for she knows he’ll keep on crying

until the day he dies.


A child cries in Memphis:

her teacher asks her why.

“I wish that I was light skinned,

blonde-haired and blue-eyed.”


A man cries in Montgomery:

nobody wonders why.

It’s such a common sight there

that no one bats an eye.


A woman cries in Selma,

not expecting a reply.

She knows she’ll never see the day

when someone hears her cry.


A young man cries in Birmingham,

a different kind of cry:

a cry that calls for freedom

and demands a reply.


He marches through the city,

A twinkle in his eye:

He might not end the heartache,
but he’s still gonna try.


The author's comments:

In honor of Black History Month, this poem is meant to exemplify the struggles of the African American community during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and 70's.


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