Teaching creative writing has been a journey that has broadened my scope of purpose. My students show me each and every day that even if you took their tongues, their minds will communicate with their fingers, and magic would happen.

I AM: by Jones Abankwa

I am a hammer;
Strong enough to break a mountain
hard enough to bend metal and iron,
Go hand to hand with every creature on earth.

I am a bird;
flying without wings
Born not to fly stronger than an atomic bomb

I am Malcolm -X;
Fighting for freedom and ripping racism to pieces.
My dreams are always fulfilled,
all civil rights leaders are attach to my name.

I am death;
I caused pain in the past and increased poverty.
I put street lights in people’s mind because of my origin.

I am feared like hell
I am alpha and omega
Beginning and the end
Loving, sociable and I hate racism.
I am from Rosa Park’s womb
full of life.

Atonement By: Ravon Morehand

The time has come,
for the evil within me to,
be free.
Be free like a caged animal,
whose only hope is to see,
the other side of the gate.
I seek atonement from my God,

So the path for him
won’t be rocky,
but smooth
as if I was
the flow of water,
I recognized my wrong doings.
How can I forget such a face?
He stands in front of me
with a glare in his eyes,
like he wanted to take my breath away.
Come to think about it
he looked just like me,
structure and all.
You would have thought I
was looking
at my own reflection,
I acknowledged the wrong
that was inside me
humbling myself,
in his presence
confessing all,
leaving no secrets
I atoned myself
making amends,
like I was rewriting
The Constitution.
My apology was,
accepted by
the black people, it hurts
Moving forward
from my mistakes,
I am at peace,
The Civil War is inside me
as if my pulse was
a union with God.
Perfect,

Atonement is granted.

Change: By Everette Hamlette

I was born into a world where
people are choked by air
feeling blue,
Knowing that the sky won’t smile back

“If life is so hard death should be easy”

It’s a toll to pay
living in a world of hard knocks,
why should I open the door?
Time is of the essence so stop ringing my bell.
If I’m so afraid to die, I should cheat life.
Pick up the phone
where’s change?
Step outside, children running from home,
drug dealers dealing the wicked poison
that makes good people go bad.
Change, if I ever needed you, I need you now
to change the world I live in,
and flip it right side up

Question: by  Michael Polanco

Did history become the weak part
that’s causes everything in the world
to become the high Technology?
Is Unity the Real Trust that
we can use as power,
When we can earn the respect of love?

Acres of A-K 47 all over,
we need a change in order
For my blood to keep pumping,
I have to stay and fight this stupid war.

What is there for me to fight?
People and wars are never alike.
I really think people are made
Up of love and hate, In War we need trust.
When you just need one person to be like.

Let people know that there is only one world left
and we need to do the best.
One question: do I always have to feel
Like a second class citizen
with no back bone?

Untitled: by Fernando Montaque

Tattooing their life
on the corner with
full clip metal
bars ready to let
go a negative talk
to their public enemy.

On the corner
selling blue magic
with a stack of green peas
in their pocket
killing life’s deadly corners.

Drug dealers getting
killed by their
own product or
locked behind bars

They speak
no such of knowledge
all they do is shoot
garbage