Gina+Dukes

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__Bike Riding__ (Memory Poem)

We were flying no not like spaceships,stars or cars

my body close to hers speed picking up, going faster and faster

faster than those two feet of the little baby who just learned to walk

this lightning rollercoaster kept going and going how dare I try to stop it

trees swaying in the wind whispering " you'll be fine sweet chile, just fly by and ride"

womanly fingers rubbing love into my sides climbing up and falling back down

this does not soothe nor comfort the waters of fear inside me raging and rising rampantly

I dare to end this flight stop the ride there goes my ankle into the turning pedals of the bike

we've lost our wings angels we once were now we've fallen

i paint the sidewalk a rainbow of brown skin blue tears and red blood

__Ode to unspoken words__

she speaks poetry to him from lips down under

a deluge of sweet rain pours out pleasure roaring like thunder

not touching but forever entertwined

souls and emotions beg to be released

control cries to be let go

eyes flutter and dance the gaze is heavy the breath is rough

fingers slide they long to explore

not yet not yet

i hold in a mouthful of words swallowing them deep down along with desires that yearn to have voice

its holy and sinful at the same time

this passion wrapped in love is indescribable too sacred for words

you open my heart and give me the most beautiful butterflies

the curve of your smile tells me you understand sometimes its better to leave things unsaid

__The Creation Story__ (Rift Poem)

Music Lives inside my legs my mouth is a HUGE speaker

La-La-La-LA-La-LA-LALa

melodies Flow up out my throat SpiNNG and TwIRLING like stars

there are THOUSANDS of them FLOATing in the deep space of my mouth

The BEUTIFUL Almighti Goddess Tongue Lives here

she looks out into the world outside of mouth

she sees that it is quiet

Goddess Tongue says " Let there be music" and pushes the danc//ing// twinkl//ing// stars of melodies out into the world

Music Lives All Around Me (Line taken from Naomi Shihab Nye's poem One boy told me)



=Analysis of my own Poetry =

When I began to analyze my own poetry, one thing quickly stood out, EVERY LINE DIDN’T RHYME! As a writer and a newbie to poetry, in my mind I always figured that for a poem to be good, it just HAD to have end rhyme. In 9th grade, I wrote a lot of poetry because it was for a benchmark and me and few classmates were having fun with this new art form. I would write poetry and my classmates would love it, but I thought it was only because I made the lines rhyme like raps. So in doing this mini project, I had to step away from my comfort zone and forget about end rhyme.

For this project, I chose to write a variety of different poems with different messages/vibes. I liked to play around with the poems that I feel have a sensual vibe because it’s like speaking a different tongue, describing something but not too blatantly. For my memory poem I tried to describe a simple fall from a bike in a more creative and interesting way that would hold someone’s attention.

womanly fingers rubbing love into my sides climbing up and falling back down

I used those lines to describe my mom rubbing my sides as she rode me on her bike, and I wanted to give motion, life, and a deeper meaning to the movement, which is why I said she rubbed love.

I admit, for this project I have completely stepped out of my box. I have done things with poetry that I never thought could/should be done, because I wanted to try out different structures and see what type of flair it’d give my poems. In my rift poem, ‘The creation story’ I played with personification, capitalization, and italicization a lot.

Music Lives inside my legs my mouth is a HUGE speaker

La-La-La-LA-La-LA-LALa

melodies Flow up out my throat SpiNNG and TwIRLING like stars

Though I stole a line from another poet, I used other tools to make the poem original and uniquely mine. This mini project has taught me to be more creative, try new things and to eat the yellow piece of candy instead of the blue or red pill.



=__//Poem #3//__=

I gather up

each sound

you left behind

and stretch them

on our bed.

each nite

I breathe you

and become high.

Sonia Sanchez

=//__Personal Letter No. 3__//=

nothing will keep us young you know not young men or women who spin their youth on cool playing sounds. we are what we are what we never think we are. no more wild geo graphies of the flesh. echoes. that we move in tune to slower smells. it is a hard thing to admit that sometimes after midnight i am tired of it all.

Sonia Sanchez

=//__Ballad__//= forgive me if i laugh you are so sure of love you are so young and i too old to learn of love.

the rain exploding in the air is love the grass excreting her green wax is love and stones remembering past steps is love, but you. you are too young for love and i too old.

once. what does it matter when or who, i knew of love. i fixed my body  under his and went  to sleep in love all trace of me was wiped away

forgive me if i smile young heiress of a naked dream you are so young and i too old to learn of love.

Written by Sonia Sanchez

= Detailed Analysis of Sonia Sanchez’s poetry =

Sonia Sanchez is a poet, writer and artist. She takes words from out of thin air, off the branches of trees, up out the ocean, and from under rocks as she meticulously, creatively and sometimes randomly places them into a bowl of good ‘ol poetry gumbo. I have to say, her food is pretty good. The imagery, structure, language, and style that she uses always changes. Not one to use boring rhyme-schemes, she uses the technique of infusing deeper and sometimes hidden meanings in the lyrics of her poems. In her poem, “Right on: White America”, she says,

this country might have been a pio neer land, once. and it still is. check out the falling

guns/ shells on our blk/tomorrows.

The satirical poem was written during the time when many civil rights leaders in America who fought for peace and equality were being assassinated. Leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Kennedys are just some examples. In the poem she recognizes that while America is a great country, for the country to move forward, many things will have to change. What Sonia did with the last few lines of her poem, was make a wake up call to all those in America, to let them know that the black community is struggling and its time for everyone to realize and do something about it.

Another thing that I like about Ms. Sanchez’s work is that she is not afraid to change up her style and make her poems structurally unique. In her poem, “To Anita” she writes,

we people be darker than blue and quite a few of us be yellow all soul/shades of blackness.

The way she plays with the form in the poem not only adds a creative flair, but it also draws the readers attention to certain words and makes them pay attention to the rhythm. Throughout most of Sonia Sanchez’s poems, though the form, style, and rhyme may change, one thing that she really tries to get across to her readers is a message of inspiration, and love for the human race. In a recent reading at the Free Philadelphia Central Library, she spoke to a group of young students and said, “ Its not important whether someone is Muslim, Christian or gay. What matters is whether their human.” Today Sonia is not only well known for her great works of poetry, she is also noted for her activism, fight for women's liberation, peace and racial justice. In her newest book, ‘morning haiku’, she opens with a haiku that says,

Let me wear the day Well so when it reaches you You will enjoy it.

I think this is a perfect representation of her most consistent themes of inspiration, peace, hope and love that she tries to spread through her poetry. At her most recent lecture, one request that she made of her audience of students was to make sure that they would remember to wear the day well. If you take nothing else from Ms. Sanchez’s poetry, take away her idea of wearing the day well, and you’ll have simple inspiration for everyday life.