Incident Poem

Incident

Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;

I saw a Baltimorean

Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,

And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Balimore

From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That's all that I remember.

Countée Cullen

                                                            Response

When I started reading this poem, the first two lines made me think of a confederate soldier, why? It could be that I have gotten use to reading sentences like “driving through” “going through” “on the train to” -but never - Once riding in old Baltimore that conjured in my mind, a man on a horse. I was very surprised when I read the second stanza; I realize that this was the poet, speaking and remembering through the eyes of a child. The words made me feel small and sad.  The third Stanza made me ready to cry for the child that experienced such cruelty from another child who was taught that his behavior was normal.

In response to this poem in a more modern fashion I was greatly angered at the idea that such behavior was used against an innocent brown skinned child. A couple years ago I saw a news report were surrounding a coffin were several African American Women and Men; they were burying the word “Nigger” and hoped that once and for all this word would never be used for harm again. I know that many teens my age use this word as a greeting or nickname and they don’t mean it in an offensive way, but to use this word is still a disrespect and I hope that we can all refrain from using it.  

Incident by Countee Cullen is a very important poem because it shows us that there are still some people out there who’s minds aren’t “Colored-Skin” friendly and it sends us a warning to say, if you do meet someone who has been hurt by racism don’t try to imagine the pain they go through in remembering the word but offer them a smile instead of a harsh unnecessary word. 

Poem Response to Vincent

                        

Mama's House

Graffiti and jailed windows

Keeping you safe and keeping you out at the same time

The heat of a hot sun blaring on your back

Cracked sidewalks

Red doors painted with blood

My Brothers disappear

one by one

My windows are closed

Mama's windows are closed

Baby doesn't have a window yet

Staring into oblivion

Down a BLACK corridor

Paintings of strange man on my house

Here is Cuba

A Response to "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Mother to Son is an amazing poem that contains not only extremely well written detail , but great comparisons.

Even though I like this poem, I still have 1-2 questions about it. Like, when she (She being the Mother) says "Life for me ain't been no Crystal stair." I wonder why Langston Hughes because crystal seems even harder to climb the wood. It may-be pretty but that doesn't mean that it's easier to "climb".
 Also there's the part where she says "And sometimes goin' in the dark. Where there ain't been no light." Could this/that be translated to something like "And sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm doing, where in other ways other people have."
So to end my response to this poem; i translated it into my own words. HOPE YOU ENJOY AND THANKS FOR READING! -Raindrop
                                                                 Mother to Son translated by Me!
Well,son,I'll tell yo:
Life hasn't been easy
There's been things I'm unsure about
Family issues that weren't easy to live through
School problems 
And times I didn't know myself 
At all
But all the time
I've still been living 
Growing older and wiser learning to rule myself
And sometimes I'm not even sure what I'm doing 
In ways other people have 
so keep on chugging
Don't ever give up no matter how hard
Because even I'm still climbing
And I'm still learning
And life is never gonna be easy.