How’s it going lovely people? Back at it again. It’s Wisdom Wednesday. I don’t have any wisdom for you today dear friends but I do have poetry.
So my son had an assignment at school in reference to the civil war. He received a rubric that had nine boxes with details on choices for the assignments. He only had to pick three to complete the assignment. The choices that he made were to write a 1- page essay on a Civil War General, Create a new paper article discussing the details of the battle of your choosing, being sure the narrative shows what side you are on and writing a poem. Now you have to know that I was excited when he chose, a poem.
The poem had to be about the thoughts of slaves during the time of Civil War. Boy, was I excited? My son had asked me to help him write a poem, Y’all!
A little about my son… He is a very talented young man. I’m not saying this because he’s my son. He just is. He is very creative with his words as he is a lyricist. Poetry to him is hard for some reason but you give him a beat and words just flow like a river from his lips. I explained that poetry is not a far-off journey from hip-hop. Its not the exact same but they are related. Something like siblings, brother, and sister. Hip-hop has always been an expression of voice it just has a lyrical rhythm that you can bob your head to. Poetry can also be placed over music as well. I’ve done it in the past and it was amazing. It actually gave my poetry the extra umph that I was looking for.
On to the assignment.
I asked him what he thought the slaves would think around that time (civil war). His first thought was “questions, they would have so many questions”.
I have this book and it is a slave narrative. We read and read just to get ideas. This helped put him in the mindset of what they could have been thinking around that time. Most of what we read showed confusion and hopelessness. After reading these narratives a poem was created. (I have full permission to post this poem on his behalf).
Questions of a Slave (Written in the tone of a slave)
© 2018 Caeden “Hezekiyah” Humphrey
Is I a slave?
My feet wanna run fo freedom
But freedom is a long path away
dem Yankees I pose
a friend
dats what the lettahs say
my massa say he eat breakfast at home
fight the north
and be back before dinner is done
but the table been set for 3 long years
and he ain’t ate dinner yet
the whip still sing songs
the cotton field be blood red
strange fruit still growing from trees
ova my head
Is I free?
Is I a slave?
My feet wanna run fo freedom
I really hope he gets an A!
No Line was left behind.. Great job Son!
Peace my beautiful people!
No Line Left Behind 