Poetry for Women (By Women, For Women, About Women)

Bye Bye Baby

With head bent low he watches her go,
bravely facing a world she does not know
He smiles goodbye and covers up his tears
for he must be brave if she looks back in fear.
Every fiber of his being wants to run and gather her
close to his heart but he makes his feet firm on the ground
all smiles as she turns round.
The first of many firsts for her and
he knows the pain of each step will remain.
Her first day of school is her first step away from
the safe harbour of a father's love 

Noreen Carden

Latest Student Included in “School to Prison Pipeline”

Latest Student Included in “School to Prison Pipeline”

Earlier this year I heard what I thought was great news, the president mandated that all schools receiving federal funding (most schools) will be ‘encourage decriminalizing school infractions’. What I meant by that was that now schools have a guideline to follow so students won’t suffer by being overly disciplined or disciplined unfairly amongst their peers. There are plenty of reports and statistics that have proven and driven for such policy changes, especially as it pertains to racial discrimination, but overall all students suffer. Those who are directly subjected and otherwise are all affected in such acts for it creates a feeling of inferiority among classes in the student body which in turn cases segregation that can lead to such politics regarding race. Many critics have come under fire of the Obama administration for the ‘guidelines’ they've set saying that it is racist because the guide post for leading the legislation is that there are more blacks in jail than whites, and that for his entire presidency he’s been overly zealous in his attempt to change the country; he doesn't help to elevate the poor and underachieved but to take from those of the high end of the economic scale.

Despite the opinions and feelings of others another incident involving a high school senior, a Caucasian male, proves that these infractions are truly costly to the futures of the students incurring them and that something needs to be done.

Jordan Wiser, a student at Ashtabula County Technical School in Jefferson, Ohio was expelled from school after a search of his car turned up a folding pocket knife in a jacket/vest, both used for EMT training. Because of his schools ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy Wiser was referred to the police department and expelled from school. Fox News reported that the school district is obligated to motion for expulsion once a student is found with banned items on campus. School officials reported that it was the decision of the police and prosecutors to charge Wiser with illegal conveyance of a weapon for having the knife which leads to him spending thirteen days in jail.

School officials maintain that he search was prompted after viewing Wiser’s YouTube page, but the videos posted are not of violently graphic, or horrific scenes; Jordan is there teaching the world how to wield the knife, yet he was expelled from school for it. As detailed on his YouTube page it is Jordan’s aspiration to join the Army and serve his country. Now his aspirations are to finish high school over an online program, rather than in the comfort of a classroom filled with his peers. For Jordan Wiser and all other students like him, the school to prison pipeline is very real and swift.

Regardless, the school to prison pipeline is a very real, very dangerous policy which educational administrators have practically built with their use of ‘zero tolerance’ policies and all students, regardless of their racial disparity are victims, once entering the system.  The ACLU defines the ‘school to prison pipeline’ as follows;

“A disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished and pushed out.”

“The “school-to-prison pipeline” refers to the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.  This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education.”

Because of such incidents growing in numbers over the past years all over the nation the Obama administration has urged schools and administrators to amend zero tolerance policies, and school discipline procedures so that school infractions remain a school problem. The call for such action has been ridiculed as being slightly racist, but statistics have proven that minorities (black, Spanish, ELL’s, Special Needs, etc.) are those mostly affected by the strict disciplinary actions, and they are also among those who are falling behind. Within the ‘guidance package’ created by the administration to detour such infractions includes federal initiatives that coincide with school discipline as well as resources along with the guidelines.

 I urge parents as well as teachers and administrators to ‘push’ for integration and adaption of these guidelines. We, as a nation, only seem to take note of injustice ‘after’ the fact; its high time we step up to the plate and start making the hard decisions that will lead to better lives. By voicing our opinions, norms, and values we can help to steer school disciplinary infractions as we have fought for equality in education and even the abolishment of segregation.

The school to prison pipeline isn’t biased; it also has a zero tolerance policy. 

Poetry For Women (By Women, For Women, About Women)

AFTER TEARS COMES FURY


After tears comes fury
Rage, simple and true
Tears are everything women are supposed to be
Weak and powerless
Prone to emotional outbursts
Unable to defend herself
But when the tears are gone
And society has had its say
The fury breaches the surface.
Beware a tear stricken women
For she has broken her chains
And is set loose with rage
Ready to raze those she meets to the ground
After tears comes fury
And when the fury fills your veins,
Giving you the strength you need
Letting you feel powerful,
The world will tremble at your feet

 J_Kreider

Poetry For Women (For Women, By Women, About Women)

FREE BUT UNEQUAL

Have we not progressed?
What kind of world are we living in?
Women getting smaller wages?
Men telling us to get back in the kitchen?
We are worth more than we get credit for
We have more to offer than to kitchen slave
To cook and clean for husbands
Giving birth to children to raise
The head of the house should be a partnership
Both the husband and the wife
Each should have a part
In making the decisions in life
Isn't equality for women
Something we worked on years ago?
But men still get higher wages than us
And that just goes to show
That men still think they are better
They think they rule this land
That women are just helpless
So they take the upper hand
But truth is we aren't helpless
And we deserve equal rights
In work, school, and home
And it has become a huge plight
We are moving forward
And while American may be "free"
This country cannot be deemed fair
Until everyone is given rights and equality


 Emily091

Retrieved, March 15, 2014 from http://www.powerpoetry.org/poems/free-unequal

Poetry for Women (For Women, By Women, About Women)

Girls vs. Women

Girls are insecure; Women are confident.
Girls dress trashy; Women dress classy.
Girls are students; Women are teachers.
Girls are listeners; Women are preachers.
Girls makes babies; Women raise babies.
Girls have sex; Women make love.
Girls are weak; Women are strong.
Girls fight; Women walk away.
Girls argue; Women speak.
Girls give in; Women compromise.
Girls envy. Women appreciate.
Girls give up. Women strive.
Girls look. Women see.
Girls take. Women give.
Girls follow; Women influence.



Christina E. Brown

Poetry for Women (By Women, For Women, About Women)

The Old Stage Queen


by: Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)
 
Back in the box by the curtains shaded,
She sits alone by the house unseen;
Her eye is dim, her cheek is faded,
She who was once the people's queen.

The curtain rolls up, and she sees before her
A vision of beauty and youth and grace.
Ah! no wonder all hearts adore her,
Silver-throated and fair of face.

Out of her box she leans and listens;
Oh, is it with pleasure or despair
That her thin cheek pales and her dim eye glistens,
While that fresh young voice sings the grand old air?

She is back again in the Past's bright splendor--
When life seemed worth living, and love a truth,
Ere Time had told her she must surrender
Her double dower of fame and youth.

It is she herself who stands there singing
To that sea of faces that shines and stirs;
And the cheers on cheers that go up ringing
And rousing the echoes--are hers--all hers.

Just for one moment the sweet delusion
Quickens her pulses and blurs her sight,
And wakes within her that wild confusion
Of joy that is anguish and fierce delight.

Then the curtain goes down and the lights are gleaming
Brightly o'er circle and box and stall.
She starts like a sleeper who wakes from dreaming--
Her past lies under a funeral pall.

Her day is dead and her star descended,
Never to rise or shine again;
Her reign is over--her Queenship ended--
A new name is sounded and sung by men.

All the glitter and glow and splendor,
All the glory of that lost day,
With the friends that seemed true, and the love that seemed tender,
Why, what is it all but a dead bouquet?

She rises to go. Has the night turned colder?
The new Queen answers to call and shout;
And the old Queen looks back over her shoulder,
Then all unnoticed she passes out.

How/ Why Kill Your Children??!!

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1714371.1394221766!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-minivan-0307.jpg

For the past two days I’ve consistently read reports/ articles about a woman who drove her SUV into the ocean while her three children where inside and she herself is about seven months pregnant. My first reactions were of shock and then a little disgusted ‘what could possibly cause a mother to try and kill her own children?’ ‘Was she depressed or on some kind of drug that impaired her judgment?’ I soon realized that I was making excuses for a woman that I knew nothing about and decided to wait until the case was further developed to make any kind of ‘logical explanation’. In the reports that I had read and watched the situation had just taken place and the authorities had not charged anyone, but did take the children and place them in protective custody, a given regarding the circumstances.

Ebony Wilkerson, 32 of S.C drove her SUV into the ocean near Daytona Beach leaving her children, ages 10, 9, and 3 in the back seats of the car to drown. Reports indicate the she drove the car into the ocean after ranting about demons and her ex-husband coming to ‘get her and their children’. Wilkerson’s sister also made statements saying that she notified the authorities of her sister’s remarks, but officers who stopped her for a ‘wellbeing check’ concluded that outside of the apparent fright she displayed from her ranting’s she was aware of her surrounding and was therefore determined to be lucid and able to care for herself and her children. Officers let Wilkerson go only to hear reports of an incident involving her and her children a mere two hours later.

While it is unclear whether or not drug/ alcohol abuse played any roles within the incident, authorities have determined that her mental capacity is that of the average person, and because of such she is able and fit to stand trial. Facing three counts of attempted murder and another slew of charges many question her motives and her involvement in another car incident which caused another driver to crash into a barrier, of which she died two weeks later from injuries sustained.

While many of the preliminary reports aren’t yet released to the public one is left to wonder if drugs and mental disease aren’t factors then what else could’ve drove this woman to commit such acts.  I wonder could her pregnancy be a factor in the actions she illustrated? It is well known that pregnancy can cause emotional instability and depression, among other things. That coupled with other situations that she’s been facing daily, could lead to such a dramatic illustration of a desperate attempt to flee the chaos rising around her. But in either case I still can’t understand the need to bring the children along ‘for the ride’. The long term effects that this could possibly have on those children are mounting as the days go by. While I do understand the need of the government to make sure she is prosecuted to the proper extent for her actions, I also believe much more strongly that is the government spent less time penalizing people for certain actions rather than helping them to solve their issues, which in this case can begin from abusive relationships to endangering the welfare of minors and attempted murder by a mentally unstable person, we would have less people in lock up today for other infractions that simply needed a different kind of intervention. I’m not trying to down play the events that took place in any way, the facts still remain that she put the lives of her children in immediate danger and did so knowingly, but who’s to say that her intent isn’t real within the realms of her mind? Wilkerson’s sister maintains that her sister is a victim of spousal abuse and that her behavior arose from incidents stemming from such events, and officers conducting the ‘wellbeing check’ also determined she seemed frightened and wanted to get to a safe place out of the reach of her husband. So the rea question is what is to be done from here? Should they tear up an already broken family more or provide ways to mend what has already transpired.

Poetry For Women (By Women, For Women, About Women)

AIN'T I A WOMEN?

Photo Credits from http://ionenewsone.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/sojourner-truth.jpg

That man over there say

     a woman needs to be helped into carriages

and lifted over ditches

     and to have the best place everywhere.

Nobody ever helped me into carriages

     or over mud puddles

     or gives me a best place...

And ain't I a woman?

     Look at me

Look at my arm!

     I have plowed and planted

and gathered into barns

     and no man could head me...

And ain't I a woman?

     I could work as much

and eat as much as a man —

     when I could get to it —

and bear the lash as well

     and ain't I a woman?

I have born 13 children

     and seen most all sold into slavery

and when I cried out a mother's grief

     none but Jesus heard me...

And ain't I a woman?

     that little man in black there say

a woman can't have as much rights as a man

     cause Christ wasn't a woman

Where did your Christ come from?

     From God and a woman!

Man had nothing to do with him!

     If the first woman God ever made

was strong enough to turn the world

     upside down, all alone

together women ought to be able to turn it

     rightside up again.

Copyright © Sojourner Truth, 1852.

Poem by Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Poetry for Women (By Women, For Women, About Women)

THE PEARL

Photo credit due to http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0177/1012/files/tahitian_pearls_1_grande.jpg?1621

When I was born, my mother gave me a pearl
It was flawless and shiny and beautiful and mine
As I grew she told me that my pearl was precious
And it was
She told me it was special
That I could do with it what I wanted
She said it was mine and no one could take it away from me
I kept it safely on my neck, so no one could take it away

When I was 16, a boy, a charming boy came by
He was sweet and kind, he told me so many nice things, until
Until he took my pearl
He smashed into thousands of pieces
He didn’t stop until it was nothing but an ugly dust
Then he lay the shards back in my outstretched hands

When I told people of his treachery
They said I deserved it for displaying it so proudly
They said that’s what boys do
They blamed me for giving my pearl worth
They, who taught me the virtue of my pearl,
Now attacked me for seeing its value
And not the boy who hadn’t
Not the boy who took it from me and destroyed it while I watched helplessly


 -- Coley Poet