En.Citatepedia^®.ro

Virginia's Story

Elizabeth Gates-Wooten is my Grand mom.

She was born in Canada with her father and brothers.
They owned a Barber Shoppe.
I don't remember exactly where in Canada.
I believe it was right over the border like Windsor or Toronto.
I never knew exactly where it was.

When she was old enough she got married.

First, she married a man by the name of Frank Gates.
He was from Madagascar.
He fathered my mom and her brother and sister.
The boy's name was Frank Gates, Jr.
Two girls name were Anna and Agnes.

Agnes was my mother.

Frank Gates went crazy after the war
He drank a lot and died
Then grandma Elizabeth married a man by the name of Mr. Wooten.
He had a German name, but I don't think he was German.
She took his last name after they got married.

Then they moved to West Virginia in the United States.

Their son, Frank Gates Jr. Became a delegate in the democratic party.
He use to get into a lot of trouble because he liked to fight.
He was a delegate from the 1940's to 1970's.
He died of gout in the 1970's.

Anna was a maid and cook.

She baked cakes and stuff for people as a side line.
She had a hump on her back (scoliosis) .
She had to walk with a cane.
She could cook good though.
She did this kind of work all of her life, just like her mom, Elizabeth

They were both good cooks

They had a lot of money because they had these skills
Especially when people had parties.
Because they would make all of this food and then they would have left-overs.
We got to eat a lot of stuff we normally wouldn't get because of that.
When they cooked, they didn't use no measuring stuff, they would just use there hand.

My moms name was Agnes Barrie Gates.

She married James Wright and moved to Cleveland.
My grand mom followed them there a couple of years later.
They had six children.
They had two boys named James and Felton.
They were the oldest.

They also had four girls named Elizabeth, Virginia, Viola, and Harriet.

My dad, James had to go fight in Spain.
He got drafted.
It was in the Spanish American War.
They had to dope him up to make him fight.
When he came back home he was not right.
He would have bad dreams and scream out at night.

He started drinking a lot

He drank himself to death when I was young.
He died when I was three in 1933 when he was thirty something.
It was the Great Depression!

When my daddy died, my grand mom and my mom already lived in Detroit.

My mom had a factory job.
My grand mom got a job working for some Jewish people across Woodward.
Black people couldn't go across Woodward back then.
Only Jewish people and white people could go over there.

That was the good neighborhood.

The Jewish people my grand mom worked for lived on that side of Woodward.
Those Jews had lots of money
The Jews also had children who had big heads.
They called them mongoloid head kids.

The good thing is that we got to go to the Fox theater with them, because my grand mom worked for Jewish people.

Black people could go over there if they were working for white people
We got to see Ponochio, White Christmas, Cinderella, and a lot of things there.
We got to eat good, too.
Cabbage and Corned Beef, Lamb and fish.
All types of stuff like that.

What ever was left over, Grandma Wooten got to take home.

People would laugh at her for working with those big headed mongoloid kids.
But she didn't care.
She had a good job and got to have a lot of good stuff because of it.
Those big head kids were smart, too.

They just had big heads.

While my grand mom was working for the Jewish family, my mom was working for the factory, making nuts.
It was an airplane factory.
The men made the wings.
The women made the nuts.

When I was 8 years old, my mom use to go out with this man who would pay her to have relations with her.

We use to listen at the door and look thru the key hole at them to see what the were doing.
He didn't have a real thing.
He had this thing he had to turn on and it would get hard and he would try to have relations with my mom.
We would laugh and giggle cause he could never get it to do what he wanted.
He would never have relations with her with that thing.
He would always take her out on the town and stuff and pay her even though his thing didn't work.

When I was 8, we went to church one time and the preacher asked 'Does anybody have any questions? '

So I asked 'Why do all of those hurricanes come out of Africa and hit all of the people in the United States? '
My Grandma turned around and slapped me
Later on she told me that I was not suppose to asked that kind of question.
I just wanted to know how Africa could be so rich
They had all of that gold, and diamonds, and oil

And the white folks just come over there and take it

Leaving them all poor
How did that happen?
What was god thinking of when he let that happen?
But I never got that question answered

My grandmother made me stay in my room overnight, too.

The only thing is I never did asked any more questions
I asked them to myself
I didn't ask anyone else tho
I was just quiet
When I had kids i wanted them to ask questions

I never hit any of them for asking any questions

They could swear or anything
I just wanted them to feel free to ask things and find out about them
Not like how I felt
I just wanted to know things
But, I probably never will know they answer to all of my questions

I probably will be dead before I get any of those answers.

Later on, during WWII, my mom got a job at the USO dancing for tickets with the service men.
She was one of those flapper girls.
A dime -a- dance girl!
Thats what they called them in the movies.
She had this real nice black hat with wings on it.
She got a lot of tickets for all of that dancing!

She had lots of money.

After the war, my mom worked in a restaurant.
It was a Jewish restaurant.
Thats all there ever was.
They (the Jews) were the only ones who had money and businesses.
They knew how to save their money.

She worked and got tips.

When I was a kid, I don't remember the first school I went to.
All I know is I went across the street and two blocks down to go there.
I lived on Russell, before you get to Caniff.
I didn't get to go anywhere much then.
None of us did.
My mom didn't want us around the factory workers down the street.

My grand mom use to walk us across the bridge to Canada to this big market to get produce and shop.
It was really big and we bought a lot of stuff.
We use to have a big red wagon that we would bring all of this stuff home in.
She use to have us walk so that we would have strong legs.
I was about seven.

I had special shoes made because I had something wrong with my legs and my flat arches.

I still got flat arches.
So that's why grand mom use to have me made square toe shoes.
I wore those kind of shoes till I was thirty years old.
People made fun of me, but I didn't mind.

My friend, name Virginia Green, live down the alley.

Her mother had fourteen kids!
She lived down the street.
All of the kids use to run down the alley.
We had to play in the yard.
She was afraid of the factory on the alley down from us.
All of the smoke coming out of it and the workers coming in and out.
She thought something bad would happen.

Virginia Greens family were Jehovah Witnesses

They all had to pray every morning
The girls had to get the Kids ready in the morning.
The Mom had home schooled them.
My friend didn't go to school until she went to Northern
I use to see her on the bus once in a while after that.

I stopped seeing her on the bus when we moved on East Grand Boulevard.

There was a riot back then.
That's when my grandma got stabbed on her way from work.
She was getting off of the bus when it happened.
They stabbed her in the stomach and grabbed her purse, too.
She was getting of the bus going to Hudson's.

And the bus driver couldn't do a thing.

We didn't know anything about it
The white person who did it got away.
A lot of white people were stabbing black people back then.
It was a race riot!

They took her to emergency to get stitches.

We didn't find out till the next day
It kept her out of work for six week.
She was hurt really bad.
The rioters didn't burn any buildings or nothing.
They just robbed people, broke in the windows and took their stuff.

It was a race riot.

People were out of work and crazy.
My mom got something out of that Fur store on Broadway.
A lot of people took furs out of that fur store on Broadway.
We didn't get to go outside without an adult until I was ten!
My mom would take us outside when she got home from work and grand mom went to work
The lady that lived upstairs from us didn't like the noise from kids anyway
She kept complaining 'Stop all of that noise down there? '

We lived there til I got married.

I didn't get to go out on my own until I began High School.
Not until I got to go to Norther high school.
The kids didn't make fun of me then, because other kids were wearing them, too.
Then I got a pair of them other kind of shoes, buster brown like shoes.
Oxfords!
They had two colors on them!

I have a picture of me wearing those shoes in the year book.

I was in the Library Club.
I would sit at the desk and help people check out the books
Got paid twelve dollars a week for doing it.
In Modern Dance we danced and stretched and all of that stuff.
Then we would have to go on the stage at the end of the semester.

We would get some awards.

Chemistry I didn't like to well.
Had to cut up things and stuff like that.
Frogs...Eeeeeh! !
In Swimming I just would swim.
We got medals and stuff.
I don't know how I passed German!

'Sprechan Zie Deutche? '

I don't know what it means.
Same goes for French.
The French teacher would collect all of the books so that we couldn't look in them.
Then we would get the test.
She would give each of us a special question that she wrote out in her own hand.

Nobody had the same question, so they could not cheat.

In 1948, there were a lot of German teachers in Northern high school.
Everybody couldn't understand why all of the teachers were German after we had just fought the war with them.
That didn't make no sense at all.
But all of the teachers were German.

When I was 14, I went skiing with the German class
We went to some mountain up north, I don't remember it's name
And they served hot chocolate
Hot chocolate keeps you real warm when it's cold outside

It's the only thing that keeps you real warm like that
The German teacher was a real good skier
I was scared
I was afraid that I would fall on my face
I didn't, but I was always afraid
All of those German speaking people
I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

That hot chocolate was the only thing I liked about skiing.

Grand ma Wooten spoke a lot of German
She use to teach German when she lived in Canada
She learned the German because she was part German and part English
But I couldn't remember all of that German then
It was long ago and I didn't have anyone to speak it to
Not until High School

There use to be a Cunninghams drug store across the street.

We use to eat over there with the German teachers.
They made good coffee over at Cunninghams.
Good banana splits, too.
They charged 10 cents for a big mug of coffee.
Go good with a piece a pie for a quarter.
Big piece of pie, too.

Hot chocolate was a nickel.

Milk came in a little glass bottle.
There was cream on the top of the milk.
You could shake it up and drink it all mixed together.
Or you could drink the cream of first and then drink the milk.
Taste good either way.

I met your dad (Mohammed) in 1947.

We lived down the street from him.
He got over here by working in the engine room on boats
When he got here in the US, he jump ship in New York and came to Detroit
He lived in a big apartment building with all of his Indian friends
It was the first time I saw a steam iron.
One of the Indian Ladies had a Steam Ironing board!

Just like they use in the dry cleaners.

She did the ironing for all of the Indian men there
She showed me how to iron with it
You press down and steam would come out.
They also had this grill thing.
You make sandwiches on it.

Like that George Foreman thing, except for families

They also had big pots.
It was a big coffee maker.
Another Indian woman had a black and white TV in their restaurant.
That was the restaurant Mohammed took over after Jathia got sick and he lost his job.

I started dating Mohammed right before I graduated.

We got to go out alone.
Then we started going to the movies at the show.
The Holbrooke on Holbrook and the Fox downtown.
They didn't let black folks in the Fox.
But since I was with Mohammed, they let me in.
That was in 1949.

Mohammed was working at Hudson Motors before we got married.

Me and Mohammed went everywhere together in 48
We were really going together in 50
We got married in 51
When Eron was born, It was cold
It was June, but it was raining

The wind was blowing

I was on Hasting
I was on Russell
Then I went to Hastings when I got out of the hospital
It was daytime, morning
It was about 6 something
He weighed only 6 pounds too

I had a mid wife help

By the time the ambulance got there I had had the baby
The doctor gave me a slip to go to the hospital the next week
You know to go to the hospital for your six month check up
Six week check up!
He lost his job at Hudson Motors when he was hospitalized for ulcers
When he got better, he took over the restaurant
But he lost it when one of the kids got sick

It was either Big Eron or Jathia who got sick

Mohammed also took me to the Pakistani club for meetings.
They had a lot of card games at the club.
They use to make a lot of money down there.
Drinking coffee, playing cards, praying and making money.
One day we didn't have any money, and the next day we did.

When I got married, grandma moved to Hamtramck.

Mom and Harriet moved in with her friend.
Viola moved in with her boyfriend.
My brothers were still in the war.
James was in Korea and Felton was in the Paratroopers.
When there was and emergency, Felton would have to paratroop the things they needed to them.
Like at the hospitals and in battle and stuff like that.

Mohammed was working at Hudson Motor company when we got married.

We had three kids during that time.
We rented a restaurant from a friend of Mohammed's later.
I went to work at Cunninghams in Imperial City.
Then Mohammed went to work at Ford.
Then Jathia got sick real bad.

Ford didn't like that Mohammed had to pray seven times a day.
He also had to work in the restaurant when he was done there
So he got sick.
They let him go after he had to leave when Jathia got sick.
She got hooping cough real bad.

We were only renting the restaurant, so we lost it so that we could take care of Jathia.

When Jathia was born
I just went to the hospital and had her
I was in the house on Holbrook
When I had got out of the hospital
We had already moved to 18th street

But the boy down stairs had hooping cough

She was in Herman Kieffer for three month
I had to look at her thru the glass
Thats why you have to be careful with babies
Make sure they wash their hands and stuff

They can get germs on the baby and make them sick

Since he couldn't find any work, we had to go to welfare to get some help.
Jathia was sick for eight months with hooping cough.
She was a baby.
The next year I had Audrey, we lived on eighteenth street then.

When Audrey was born, we lived on Clinton

It was a nice day
I had to go the hospital
That was her due day
But I thought I was going to have her on Jathia's birth day
But I ended up having her two days before

I took her home right after she was born

She didn't get sick or nothing
The next year I had Talile.
It was cold
We were getting ready for thanksgiving then
We were decorating for Christmas
And putting turkeys up in the window

We put up black and orange lights

We didn't turn them on till thanksgiving
I started feeling pains on the fourteenth
You don't know when you were born?
I was having pain, pain, pain!
Talile was born in the morning
I think it was 8 or 9
The was weighing him and testing him

They had me walking up and down the hall way
They were telling us about when we get out what times we have to go to the hospital
They did that for three days
Then we went home

Kennedy was president when we moved to Clinton.

Mohammed couldn't find any work in Detroit for a while.
So Mohammed went to New York to work at CBS as a maintainance and letter delivery worker.
When Abdul was born.
It was cold
I was on Clinton
I was on the other part

After I had him I had a cyst on the breast

They had me put hot water bottles on them
So they could take the puss out
But it burst out
I was paining
They gave me some medicine
Some antibiotics

I couldn't nurse Dewey

I had to give him a bottle
After a month, i could nurse him better
It was the same one I had cancer in
When I got home
I kept having pains in my stomach

Thats when they took me back to the hospital

Thats when they found the Gaul Stones
After they took them out
Thats when I felt better
Thats when my momma and my grand mama were coming over to watch all of you
Thats because Mohammed was going to work

Cause I was in the hospital for two weeks

Thats where I got that big cut on my stomach
Then they sewed it up
Those Gaul Stones.

I went to work at Cunninghams for four months.

Mohammed didn't want us to be on welfare.
So Mohammed would send his check home so I could pay the rent and utilities.
Mohammed was at CBS when the Beatles performed on Ed Sullivan
Mohammed came home a little while afterwards
Then Kennedy got Killed
Then Johnson became president
Mrs. Adele was watching the kids while we were working.
We had to pay rent to the government.

The government owned all of those houses in that neighborhood.
Thats why they never fixed them up.
Some are still standing today because the government owns them.
That's why they could order everybody to move when they were building La Fayette Park, because they owned most of all the homes.

I quit my job when Mohammed came back from New York.

Mohammed came back because someone got him a job at Receiving Hospital downtown.
Mohammed sold incense to make money to pay the medical bills.
He had to because there wasn't any blue cross or nothing to pay the medical bills.
When he went to General Motors he had insurance to pay the medical bills.
He still kept selling incense, because he had clients who liked him buying them from him.

There was this crazy man.

Pedophile man.
He was this nutty man
I think he was catholic too
He would get these little girl about five or six years old
He would kill them on the way to mass

Then he would clean them up
Dress them up like little dolls
People had to start taking their children to church
They didn't know who was doing it
He would dress them up like little dolls
Probably because his mom liked little dolls

By having the police out there undercover

I don't know how they caught him
BUT THEY CAUGHT HIM!
He would get the girls, kill them, clean them up, then wrap them up in blankets.
They found him after he had killed six girls.
They found him working at a church.
St. Something.

It was three or four blocks away from us in a good neighborhood on the other side of Chene.

We lived upstairs from Mrs. Adele.
She had two daughters, one who's name is Sarah, and a son named Sonny, who was in the service.
We lived across the street from Duffield Elementary School.
All of the Kids went to that school.

Talile and Eron went around the corner to the store

This weirdo was telling people that we were his kids
But the store man knew us
So he called Daddy and the police
He got them outside and tried to cut Talile ear off
But the police and their Daddy showed up
And he was arrested.

It was mothers day
I had cooked a dinner and all, turkey and stuff
And then I had to go to the hospital and have Umor
Cause your daddy was home by then
I didn't think he was coming that day
But he changed his mind
So I had to go to the hospital
And thats how I had Umor.

When I had Muktsar

We went shopping and stuff for Christmas
We had got all of our stuff
I thought he would be coming after Christmas
But he came a week early
It was a lot of snow that day
Because the ambulance was having a hard time getting there

They goy me to the hospital

They had to go slow because there was so much snow
But I didn't have him until I got to the hospital
I didn't have him until late at night
They thought I would have him sooner
But I was having a lot of pain
It took seven hours
It was about 10 or 11 o'clock

I know I was tired of the pain

I didn't want to be knocked out
I wanted to see the baby when it comes
Cause it was around that time people were stealing babies out of the hospital
I wanted to see how my baby looked
So they couldn't do something like that

Umor and Muktsar were born on Clinton, too.

Sarah Adele gave Muktsar his middle name.
She liked Marvin Gaye and I like Marvin Gaye.
So Muktsar's middle name is Marvin
Eron was sent to stay with Aunt Tony and Grandma Wright for a long time
He would stay with them because they had kids

And Daddy didn't want him running up and down the street in our neighborhood

They liked to play card and that penny game
Eron stayed with Aunt Tony and Ramona the longest.
He stayed with Grandma Wooten because he help her do things
She liked to go to the market early in the morning
They had fresh fruit and Day old bread for a dollar
Eron was allergic

But he knew enough to stay away from that kind of stuff

Jathia wanted to stay with her dolls and stuff with her friends
Their were a lot of girls on that street
Down the block
Jathia didn't get into trouble until she got into high school
She would like to go over her friends house
Her daddy didn't like her going over there
There were crazy people out there
She wasn't scared of those people though

We would talk to her

I had to spank her
She would run away from me
I would have to grab my extention cord and swing it under the bed to get her
Her daddy didn't spank her though
He didn't spank anybody

I couldn't reach yaw with the switch

Yaw would hide under the bed and laugh at me
So I would take the extention cord an get yaw
Sometimes I would get one of yaw
Your daddy didn't like it
He talked to me about it
But yaw would laugh at me

I didn't like that

He would always talk to yaw about it afterwards
But yaw would still run away like that again
Yaw would laugh at me
It hurt my feelings
It wasn't funny to me
But it was funny to yaw
Sometimes it was funny to me

I would sit down in my chair and laugh

Audrey was sick a lot
She would have to stay home
She was allergic to a lot of stuff
I had to spank Audrey when she was little

Talile got to stay with Ramona and Viola

He would just play and chase the animals around
They had cats
We had cats, too
He did his homework from school
Listen to records

Abdul got to go with Talile where he went

They did a lot of things together
Sometimes Daddy would take the boys to the ball game
The club would have their people come with their boys
I guess they would all play together
I know they didn't come home till evening

Umor got to stay with Ramona and Tony
They would got to the park and go on the merry-go-round. Roller coaster
It was in Ildlewild, it was in another county
They would fish and camp there

Muktsar would go, too

The boys would all get to go together
No girls were allowed
Back in those days, Boys did what boys did
And the girls stayed with their mama.

After Muktsar was born we moved to East Grand Boulevard because it was a bigger place.

Mohammed still worked at Receiving Hospital and he still kept selling incense.
We lived above the East Pakistani Club, that was downstairs.
The only thing I remember about East Grand Blvd was taking you kids on the bus everyday to get your shots.
Every morning.
Some of you were allergic to school dust, chalk dust, everything!
Eron, Audrey, and Muktsar were allergic to everything.

Jathia was allergic to mold and bugs.

Talile was allergic to wheat (that would explain everything) .
Dewey was allergic to going out into the air and some sweets.
Umor use to get hay fever when he was younger.
But he got over it.
Johnson was president then
And then there were the riots.

Then Robert Kennedy got killed.

They burned buildings in this one.
Breaking the windows and taking everything they could find.
Store people had to get guns to keep people out.
At the end the store people just started giving them away, because they were burning everything up.
And the Fur place over on Broadway?

The people stole the furs and burnt the place down!

They were throwing stuff at the police men and everything.
The people were crazy.
It was a Race Riot.
The people mad because they were out of work.
The white people were trying to kill the black ones.

Black people trying to kill the white ones.

Mexicans were trying to kill both the white and the black folks.
Italians were stealing everything and shooting everybody.
You know, with all of this happening, your dad still went to work.
Lots of people told me that if it wasn't for your dad their children would have been in jail.
He talked to them about doing the right thing and not hanging out with the wrong crowd.
A lot of people told me at the funeral that they would have gone to jail if not for your father.

After the riot we moved from East Grand Boulevard to Fort Wayne. We lived there for about four years.
When we lived at Fort Wayne, everybody was getting sick with something.
Talile kept talking about how everybody was getting sick except him.
Then he got real sick and had to go to the hospital.
Everybody said he was faking it, just to get attention.

The doctors kept him for a week, and found out that he had ulcers.

Just like his daddy, he had to eat special foods.
His daddy didn't, but I baked him vegetables and chicken all of the time.
When Talile finally got well, he got sick going outside.
He kept getting this real bad rash.
The doctors couldn't figure out what was causing it at first.
Then when they did know they told us.
The sulfur in the air was making him sick.

We had to move to Gray

So we moved from 6413 Meige in Fort Wayne to the east side on 4810 Gray.
When we first moved here there was water down in the basement like there is now.
The Landlord said that maybe one of the kids was running the water and that caused it.
Then it started snowing it stopped.
But when spring came and it started raining, your dad would go downstairs after he came home from work and sweep it down the drains.

The kids were going to school.

Umor and Muktsar went to Hosmer
Abdul and Talile went to Jackson
It was real nice over here when we moved here.
Then Talile started to say he was having bad dreams.
He was getting ready for his performance, and I heard a bump, bump.
I went upstairs and saw him bouncing around.

We took him to the hospital.

When we took him to the doctor, they couldn't find anything.
I called the school and told them he was in the hospital.
He went to a lot of doctors before we found one doctor who knew what was wrong.
This doctors name was Dr. Slaughter.
He said Talile had epilepsy.

I went to see Talile perform at Jackson, Cass, and Finney.

Talile was in the concert band at Jackson.
Audrey and Jathia went to Cass.
Audrey was a Chemistry Major and Jathia as just taking English and Drama
They went to WSU after Cass.
Eron was in finney then the service.

He was in the service for three years from 1970 to 1973

Later, Talile went to Cass.
Then Talile went to Finney.
Abdul, Umor and Muktsar were not getting the grades they were suppose to get.
So we had them go to an alternative school named The Detroit Free School
We talked Talile into going, so that they would go to this new school.
Talile graduated from that school.
Abdul, Umor, and Muktsar didn't want to go to that school no more.

Talile moved out.

Then Jathia moved out.
Then Audrey moved out with the church.
Talile went to stay at the church with Audrey for a while
Then Talile moved in with Aunt Tony
Then Talile moved in with some friends of his
Then Talile left town

Mohammed still worked at the factory and he still sold stuff to his customers cause he needed money for some things.

Then he got his ulcers back.
Then he got that lump behind his knee.
It was cancer and they removed it.
The doctor told him not to go to work so early.
But he did anyway.

Then he had to go to the cancer place to have radiation.

It was freezing there.
He would still go to work.
When Talile got back, Talile would fuss at Mohammed and tell him that he would die if he didn't take care of himself.
But he didn't listen and he went back to work.

Then Mohammed went into the hospital.
Then he died.

After Mohammed died, I went back home.
Aunt Tony took care of the funeral arrangements.
Talile packed up his stuff and left town again.
I had to pick up all of Mohammed's stuff.
Then I had to get a lot of doctor papers.

Then I had to go to social security.

Then the doctors had to tell them what I had
Then they let me get on social security.
They didn't believe that I could go to school with only one bad eye.
So I had to get my birth certificate saying I was Forty Six.
I had to go to see the doctor to tell me what I am going to have to pay.
I was going back and forth from Social Security to get my eyes, lungs, and everything checked
Answering questions for social security

I was going backing back and forth

Then everybody moved out
Jathia went with Donald
Audrey went with the Church
Dewey went with the police station
Umor was going to electrician school, trying to get out
Talile was going all over with his friends.
Eron moved to Highland Park.
Everybody was gone except me, Umor and Muktsar

It was a cold winter then.
Talile returned and went to Nursing School
Muktsar had a baby with Tracy
The baby's name was Jinnah
They were having trouble with her Grandma

Then they finally got permission to move there

Then they had Syeed
Muktsar was working at Kohls
I guess they were going to get married
The grand father and the grandmother didn't want them to get married tho'
So pretty soon Muktsar started going with Veda
Tracy said so long as he was taking care of the boys its alright!

Then Muktsar moved in with Veda

Then Tracy's grandfather died
The boys moved back in here with Muktsar
Tracy went back to school
She graduated and she went to work.

Muktsar and Veda got married.

They moved back over here.
Then they moved to Hamtramck with her mom
Then they moved to Piccadilly with her mom

Then I went back to school.

I got a liberal arts degree from WC3.
Then Talile went back to school
Then Talile graduated
Then Talile got a job and started teaching at Friends School

Then Muktsar got a job working on shows
Jinnah graduated and had a baby named Jinniah
Eron went to MSU with Ariel
Syeed went to MSU, then quit
Briana quit MSU, too

Ariel Graduated and now has a job as a Social Worker

Jinnah and Syeed work together way out in Farmington Hills
Tracy is working in Ann Arbor
Raquiem is going to WC3
Big Eron had a stroke and is retired
Talile got in a fight with Claire and is kicked out again
Dewey is married to Sharon and has a beautiful family

Marlin is about to graduate

Shay is at Cass
Khalil is getting bigger
Little Eron is a daddy and has a baby boy named Ein with his girl friend Lily
Briana is still not in school
Azaria is about to graduate and is on the honor roll at DSA

I got real sick

I fell down and hurt myself
I went to the hospital and started bleeding
I had to stay in the hospital for months
When I got out I got a bump in my boobie

They said it was cancer

They had to cut off my boobies!
I got no bobbies!
I look like a pear bear made of jello!
I hurt all over!
My arms hurt.
My legs hurt.
My feet hurt.

My surgery hurts.

Everything hurts.
And I am old.
I am so old.
I'm wearing diapers.
My foots crooked, from the stroke.

I can barely see.

poem by Talile Ali
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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For My Foster Sister (about growing up with mom drunk)

We used to run through the sprinkler
we double jumped & skipped rope
we danced along to the radio
our lives were filled with hope

then something made her dad leave
and soon her mom was always drunk
she didn't have clean clothes to wear
she often felt like a dirty punk

she didn't have anyone to talk to
and the shades were always pulled tight
her mom didn't want any noise
and hated when she turned on the light

she no longer made her lunch
and asleep when she came home
she wore a ratty bathrobe
and never used a comb

it's a good thing the house was paid for
so she never had to sleep in the street
but if she didn't cash in coke bottles
she would never have anything to eat

nobody ever called the cops
they lived out towards the woods
she learned how to steal real well
and that's how she brought home goods

Mom used her welfare money
to buy her favorite drink
she ate all her leftovers
and put dishes in the sink

She didn't want a foster family
but was too scared not to tell
the day she found her on the floor
she told me her mom wasn't well

But instead of speaking out
She left home that day
she slept under the railway pass
got to school, ran all the way

We don't know who called the cops
but they cornered her in the hall
took her to the counselors office
where she stood against the wall

They told her - she had to move
in with a foster family
She didn't want to leave her mom
but is how it was to be

She cried at the funeral
for a mom who wasn't there
and moved around a lot after that
her mom's death too much to bear

She graduated college
just the other day
that foster family that took her in
we helped her make her own way

She never thought she'd love again
after her mom was gone
but we've learned a lot since then
and we know her mom was wrong

When her dad left he took her pride
and she lost all control
she couldn't raise her by herself
with booze she drowned her soul

We've been to her grave
and planted a flower cover
cause even though she was a drunk
she still her mother

poem by Linda Racaniello
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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6-11 (true Story)

A softball game,
With two 7th grade teams.
In a open grass field kids play,
In the hot sun.
Along the first base line, were the moms
Cheering their girls on.
It was the top of the 8th inning,
No outs and Centrals down by one.
Junction City is up to bat,
Central out in the field.

It took four pitches to get the batter out.
Gale Anders is up next, strike one.
Turning to terror in the next swing of the bat.
The ball goes flying over the fence,
Missis all the moms, all but one,
Nursing her baby she didn’t see the ball coming.
The ball hits the baby in the head whose life has just begun,
Just three weeks ago ReBecca Purkey was born.

ReBecca’s mom rushes her to the hospital.
Where the doctors told her,
That she could go home after the MRI.
If anything happened within 24 hours call.
They called ReBecca’s mom with the MRI results,
They told her the ball shattered her skull,
Into something like a spider web.
But the skull repairs itself,
So not to be alarmed.

ReBecca lasted 23 hours then,
Her little brain just couldn’t take it anymore,
She started having seizures.
Taking her back to the doctor,
Her mom was scared and,
Didn’t understand what’s wrong with her baby,
That is perfect in every other way.

The doctors said that it’s unlikely,
ReBecca will ever walk, talk, or feed herself,
She will be a veggie.
If this child was to live.
Because she has a traumatic brain injury,
Which lead to the seizures,
And she has epilepsy.
Hard pill to swallow for her family.
One minute this baby was healthy and happy
The next doctors are telling them she will die.

P.S. My name is ReBecca Purkey this is the story of my life. we are not as medically advanced back then as we are today, We didn’t know as much about the brain that is why doctors sent me home. This shows you anyone can overcome anything. I am 18 and have now graduated from high school with a regular diploma and soon go to college, become an Autistic teacher. I will always have a brain injury and epilepsy but that doesn’t stop me from doing anything. I am ReBecca Purkey and this is my story, what’s yours?

poem by Mrs. Cynosure
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Letter

This is the first letter that I wrote back home to mom and daddy
A few days after I'd moved to Nashville
June 2nd 1964 Nashville Tennesee
Dear mom and daddy I hope this letter finds everybody well and happy
As for me I'm fine I guess I'm just a little lonesome and a whole lot homesick
I got to Nashville OK and I thought I'd better write and let you know
Cause I knew you'd be worried about me
And I don't let you know to worried about me Cause I'm gonna be alright
Once I get settled and used to bein' away from home
I didn't realize how much I loved you and all them noisy kids until I left
And I didn't reaize how hard it was to eave home eiter
Till I started to leave and everybody started cryin' includin' me
I cried almost all the way to Nashville
And I wanted to turn around a few times and come back
But you know how bad I've always wanted to go to Nashville
And be a singer and songwriter
And I believe that if I try long enough and hard enough that someday I'll make it
Don't worry about tryin' to send me any money or anything
Cause I've got a job singin' on the early morning television show
Here called the Eddie Hill Show
And a couple of folks already told me that they might record a couple of my songs
So I'll be makin' enough money to get by
And I don't want you to worryin' about me bein' hungry or anything
And Nashville's not exactly what I thought it was gonna be
But I believe I'm gonna like it here once I get used to it
And I don't want you to worryin' about me gettin' in trouble either
Cause I'll be good just like I promised you I would when I left
Well can't think of anything else to say
I guess I'd better close for now and you write me real soon
And tell everybody I said hello and I'm gonna be real anxious to hear from you
Cause I sure miss you and I love you an awful lot
With love as always Dolly

song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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New Day

What we gon' do right now is go back, way back
Bring in the groove
I wanna dedicate this to those who never made it
>From kindergarten to the 12th I never graduated
Yo but college wasn't for some of us
So we joined the service
I seen a kid get murdered in Nam listening to Elvis
But on the out looking in
Things stay the same
But at the same vein
Looking out the whole world's changed
So keep your head up
Don't get caught up in the fast bucks
And find your mom crying while your lying in a black tux
Trust me
We don't need no education says a young man
Sitting in class (sitting in class)
School is out 3 o'clock on the dot
He had beef with some kids and he got shot, oh Lord
Turn on the television
I'm watching Martin Luther King who had a dream, oh
So take this dream and apply it to your life
Even though we know the ghetto's rough
But we got to
1 - Keep your head up
(Uh keep your head up)
Cause a new day will come
(Uh-huh, uh-huh)
And look towards the sun
(Look towards the sun)
Even when the darkness shall come
(Ooh) It's real son
(Ooh) To my people living Life it's real son
I turn the page
What's the news today
People getting fired, walking on a wire
Looting on the streets cause the kid's gotta eat
Oh, oh turn around and look at the hour glass
I gotta get it straight
Before it's too late
Cause I don't wanna be behind that gates
Keep your head up
(Uh keep your head up)
Cause a new day will come
(Uh-huh, uh-huh)
And look towards the sun
Even when the darkness shall come
2 - All my people in the back
Mama, mama
You know you raised me with no father figure
(Didn't ya)
I wanna take this time to thank you
For giving me life, oh yeah
Mama, mama
You know you raised me with no father figure
(Didn't ya)
I wanna take this time to thank you
Even though I'm doing Life
Alright
(Ooh) It's real son, alright
(Ooh) Can't flee
(Ooh)All my people doing time
(Ooh)People in the back playing cards
(Ooh)Don't lose your money yeah
Yeah tell them don't lose your money, c'mon, c'mon
Repeat 1
Repeat 2
(Ooh) For my people doing time (alright)
(Ooh) For my people doing time (alright)

song performed by by Wyclef Jean
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Revelation

Been ‘bout ten years Shell I been together,
All pretty fine, some ups and downs and whatever
Couple of kids no more had been planned
Fibro house, half an acre of land
Oh yeah, Shell is pregnant which was quite a surprise
Not sure if the house is an adequate size
But, hell, I’m now happy though was worried at first
The area round here’s goin’ from bad unto worse
It’s housing commission and they put the dregs here
Lots of blackfellas with their swearing and beers
They drink on the footpath all times of the day
An' look at us white folk in menacing ways
I’d get rid of ‘em all if only I could
I’ve never yet met an Abo that’s good
They lie and they steal and they’re primitive too
Send them back to the country is what we should do.

Anyway, on this particular night
Shell’s breathing heavy and didn’t feel right
So I called up the doctor who told us to wait
Time the contractions and get ready mate
‘Round ‘bout three thirty we knew it was time
Twenty k’s to the hospital – not a long drive
It was windy that night and the clouds they were low
So we got in the car and drove safe and slow
It was then that the rain came – like being in the shower
What should take ten minutes was taking an hour
The creek burst its banks down near Somersby way
And the radio said there would be big delays
I got on the mobile – quite frantic by now
Then Shell’s waters broke and I didn’t know how
Somehow then it all happened so very quick
But the blood and the screaming made me feel sick
Then all I could hear was a tiny quiet cry
My baby! My baby! I sang to the sky
It was dark on that roadway – nobody around
And the rain it was teeming – we were stuck out of town
The ambulance got there ‘bout a quarter to five
I stayed with the car – I was planning to drive
I now think that it’s strange I stayed with the car
I’d not yet seen my baby – the night had no stars.

“This can’t be my child! ” I screamed at the nurse
“You’ve made a mistake and to make matters worse
This baby is black so just take it away!
Now sort out this cock up or I’ll make you all pay! ”

I woke with a bandage surrounding my head
A drip in my arm in a hospital bed
They gave me sedation and I felt quite numb
Was this all a nightmare? What had I done?
I’d passed clean out in that hospital ward
‘Cos we had the wrong baby and I’d fell on the floor
A sensible doctor then came to see me
Now just a few questions he said patiently
How is my baby? And how is my Shell?
They’re doing quite nicely, he said, very well
Now tell me, the Doctor then asked seriously
Where are your parents and are they healthy?
Why is there a problem? I asked him once more
No, not really a problem just for my records
So, you were adopted? And when would that be?
I told him it was ‘round nineteen seventy three
I’d lived out near Dubbo and my parents were killed
In a car crash or something on a road in the hills
That is your wife’s baby, he said quietly
My blood pressure rose and I started to scream
But it can’t be my child so where’s the bitch been
I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her! That whore’s cheated on me!

I took what they called a paternity test
The lawyer said it was all for the best
I now know the truth and it’s been hard to take
That baby’s my own and was not a mistake
I’d thought I was Irish with some Maltese genes
But I am an Abo – that’s proven it seems
My parents they died just a few years ago
They’d lived in the country – they’d moved out from Dubbo
They thought if adopted then I’d have more chance
Of a prosperous life and improved circumstance
So all of those years I’d been living a lie
Regarding myself as superior white
‘I don’t look like a black man’ I said to the lawyer
‘But then nor do I, would you please sign this form sir’.

poem by David Keig
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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0427 We'd never have guessed..

There’s so much
we never know,
would never have guessed,
never asked,
and now regret that
we never asked,
about what it was like for ‘them’
before we were born…

I can’t remember exactly
how old I was – eight? - when I knew
that Mum couldn’t possibly
have been my mother.

She was so innocent, so simple, yet
so quietly organised,
so sensible, so unlike me
- who was unlike Dad anyway, didn’t he remind me -
that she could never
have had.. sex? .. with Dad..

It must have been my ‘naughty’ aunt, who had me,
‘father unknown’ but conveniently
adopted by my ‘parents’ -
the one who had an eye for the boys
and boy did the boys have eyes for her,
who asked every evening if she could
go out and play with them, while
Dorothy did her homework,
learned double-entry book-keeping by post,
did part-time secretarial work,
became the first female bank-clerk in the town, and still
made the cakes and scones to sell
in the terrace front-window shop
before she went to morning school or work,
while Grandad wheezed in the armchair, sick from the cotton mill..

It was only when my mother, in her sixties, took me
on her annual holiday once to see my
aunt (?) Mary, and the two played one-up
all the time, that I realised the truth of this
familiar family play of life:

Two daughters, fighting for their father’s love,
picking each their role: the one,
doing all the right things to win his love;
the other, forever testing his love
with naughtiness; (she never married, just
played the Magdalene) :
he died, and yet
they carried on their fight; Grandma was
some bystander, I guess. And of course,
Grandad loved his ‘scamp’ so much –
she, the same twinkle in his eye
that he had when he courted Grandma..
Who won, in the end? Neither? Both?

After I saw that, it didn’t seem to matter so much
which of them was really my mother. It would
have been fair if they could, somehow,
have shared me; and maybe, I them.

poem by Michael Shepherd
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JUMPING JACK FLASHED...by talile ali

HIT BETWEEN THE EYES
WITH AN IMAGE NEVER SHARED
BY THE ONE HE LOOKED UPON
IF IT WERE THEY WOULD BOTH BE IN BED

BUT IT WAS ALL ONE SIDED
AND THE PROBLEMS THERE WERE PLENTY
THE WOMAN BEGAN BY TRYING TO CONVINCE HIM
THAT HE WASN'T GETTING ANY

WITH FLAT DRY LIPPED KISSES
AND TELLS OF WOE AND HELL
THE MAN COULD SEE ALL TO WELL
THAT HE WAS RINGING THIS BELL

HE NEVER COULD UNDERSTAND
ALL THE RULES AND ALL THE GAMES
WHY DIDN'T PEOPLE SAY WHAT THEY MEANT
INSTEAD OF BEING WORDS BLOWN ABOUT TO BLAME
AND SHAME

BUT SO IT WAS FOR THESE TWO
THE HARLEQUIN AND THE FOOL
AND INTO FELL A ANOTHER POOR SOUL
WHO JUST WAS TOO HIGH TO KNOW WHAT TO DO

SHE BECAME INTOXICATED AND ENAMORED
AND EVENTUALLY LOST HER SOUL
WANTING TO BE THE DESIRE OF THE FELLA
SHE LEFT BOTH HER HEART AND MIND EXPOSED

SHE TOLD HIM OF HER FAILED MARRIAGE
AND HOW THINGS QUEERED IN JAPAN
AND HOW HER HUBBY LEFT HER
AND ONLY CAME BACK BECAUSE HE CAN

I LOOKED AT HE IN WONDER
SHE DIDN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE
SHE WOULD REMARRY THIS DUMB BASTARD
SO SHE AND THE KIDS COULD GET HIS BENEFITS

THE I SUDDENLY SAW MY BEST FRIEND
TWENTY YEARS LATER, AND WOE
SHE WOULD BE CHASING AROUND OLD FARTS LIKE ME
AND TELLING THEM HER TELLS, OH NO!

THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN
TO FOLK WHO DON'T LOVE TOO WELL
THEY END UP MARRIED TO MONEY
AND HAVING TO CREEP FOR TAIL.

AND MAYBE SO LONG AS THEY KNOW IT
IT AIN'T AS BAD AS IT SEEMS
CAUSE IF NEITHER OF THEM REALLY LIKED IT
WOULDN'T ONE OR THE OTHER LEAVE THE SCENE?

SO WATCHING ALL OF THIS DRAMA
WAS LIKE WATCHING JUMPING JACK FLASHED
I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW SO MANY PEOPLE
SO CHOSE TO NOT LIVE THEIR OWN LIFES

I AIN'T SAYING CHASING AROUND THE YOUNG
WHILE YOU ARE MARRIED TO SOMEONE YOU HATE
IS WRONG
I AM SAYING THAT WHY DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
THATS ALL.
WHY DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

BUT THIS WORLD IS SO DECEPTIVE AND DISHONEST
THAT THE WICKED AND DECEITFUL GET THE GOODS
MAKES IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THERE WILL EVER BE
ANY BENEFIT FOR DOING ANY GOOD

poem by Talile Ali
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Old School Memories

I guess we all have old memories
Way back when we were in school
We tried our best to get passing grades
To prove to our folks we weren’t a fool

Remember those old-fashion desks?
There was an ink well right at the top
Some boys didn’t last too long at school
For they stayed home to pick the crops

Long walks home right after school
The stack of books made a heavy load
Kicking rocks but hurrying along
Down that dusty red dirt road

After all, there were always chores to do
Once a kid got back home
Gather the eggs and slop the hogs
Didn’t have a lot of time to roam

Yep, those were good old days, my friend
Nowadays seems school is a breeze
But it sure is fun to look behind us
To the wonderful old school memories!

poem by Marilyn Lott
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Growing up #2

I never talk much about my Dad
Because, when I do I get very sad
I can't give my dad much credit
Dad didn't raise us, mom did it

Oh please don't get me wrong
I loved him, he used to sing songs
But dad could be mean with his words
I know, because I always heard

I heard him talk to mom, like she was a dog
And when he wanted his kids, it was to kill a hog
He would take us to his mothers
And they would sit and talk about others

They talked mean about mom and her kids
Like he didn't help bring us into this world, but he did
Don't get me wrong, I loved him, because he was my dad
But he always put his mother in front of my mom, and that was sad

Dad took us to his mothers one day
And we were sent out to play
While my dad set at her table and ate banana pudding
kids wasn't allowed to eat, mom got mad, because her kids couldn't

So mom came out and set with her kids
When dad got done, the fight was on, and she did
It was months before mom would go back over there
Heck it was months, before we went any where

The eight kids that mom and dad had
It was all left up to my mom, and that is so sad
If I had A gold award, I would ask my mom to stand up
Because dad didn't help us grow up

This gold statue, Is awarded to my mom
For raising five girls and three sons

poem by Frieda Lumpkins
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My Best Friend Danny

I met him in nineteen fifty-six
he was my best friend
him and I, was always in a fix
of our fights, we always did mend.

There was the time
we painted the fence
wanted to do the job, real fine
used a whole gallon of paint
it didn't make sense
my brother dave asked,
'What happened to all the paint'?
when we told him, 'We used it all, '
he laughed, I thought, he was going to faint,
thru the years, with that story,
we have really had a ball

Then there was the time
we tried to chop down the tree
my brother got mad, but the three was mine
oh, we were so care-free

I never forget the racoon,
that followed us home,
he seemed to like our radio
that was playing a tune
the racoon, seemed so a lone

I never forgot the indian head
pennies, he sold me,
he stole them, of crime he led,
he had taken them from his dad
I should have known, he sold them so cheap
to get them back, his father was glad

He always did something
to me that was real mean
to make up, a present he would bring
of our friendship, he would lean

He taught me how to smoke
this you say, you call a friend.
when I could have had a stroke,
but he always had money to lend

When I didn't have any friends at all,
Danny was always, by my side
and it sure made me feel tall
if any one picked on me, he would
beat their hide

Every one called him and I a clown,
each one laughed so hard
that it, really brought them down,
at poker, he could really hide a card

Every morning before school
we played poker, he cheated a lot
and with him, I wanted to fight a duel
but he told me 'I cheat not.'

Of the down town loop, we did ride
in nine-teen fifty-nine
our car through the streets, would glide
trying to find girls
that would be his or mine

In nine-teen sixty, my dog shep died,
it was very depressing and sad
him and I, all day we cried
it made me unhappy and a little mad

In nine-teen sixty-two
he joined the army
I tried to join, but didn't make it
those days were very stormy
after what he went through,
I didn't mind a bit

In nine-teen sixty-seven
the army let him go,
at home at last, I thought I was
in heaven
but I soon found out, it wasn't so

The army had changed him, in many ways
Danny was not the same anymore
as I looked back, at those good old days
when I always heard him, knock on the door

All he wanted to do now, is go drink
he could'nt sit still very long
and he was really starting to sink
he had seen action, against the Viet Cong

Next to him one night
a man's throat was slashed, a man who was kind
it wasn't good, or right
and what it must have done, to Danny's mind

Over the years, I saw him, until eighty-one
hav'nt seen him since
remember well, good times and all the fun
Danny where ever you are,
you are still my best friend
does that make sense.

poem by Jim Foulk
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Didn't Expect It

I never thought you will move back to California forever because of me I make you leave here
I’m feel so horrible and I
Didn’t expect it
Once I found out it hurts so much
It opens my eyes
Now you are gone
I didn’t make right choices and
Break you into million pieces
Things will never be same
I’m so sorry
I feel like I know you forever
We were so close in school in 10th grade
How I can get over you
You were different and what I’m looking for
I can be me around you and have fun with you, but
Things change in 11th grade
I can’t smile, laugh, and have fun like I use to around you
I regret for not dating you
You know how I feel about you
I never give us a chance
What have I done?
I didn’t see how you were good for me
Letting you down, I feel so bad
Most of poems I write are about you
That’s all I think to write about is you
I’m out of words to write because of you
On the hand
You told me that you never want to go out with me
It don’t seems like you mean it, I bet you did
You wish we were dating by the way I’m with other guys and
Not with you flirting, smiling and having good time
Memories of us have fun, laugh, hurt by each other,
Joy and time we had spent in class in 10th grade
I never going forget it after all and
It impossible to do that
I miss you too much I know I have to let you go, but
It hurts too much and to be with other guys
It’s not same like when I with you and
I can’t love them like I did with you
All I think about is you
There something I need to figure out
Why I can’t let you go yet?
What I like about you that was special?
I don't know yet
I'm so clueless
I bet you had move on and dating someone else
It’s not my business
I need to move on too
You gone forever and
You thought you knew me but you don't, I do
I’m not going let you hold me back
I make you wait too long
I thought second chance
I will I get you but I didn’t
I lie and you hate people lying to you
You did too and you put people in your games
I did or say things make you change your feelings about me
I was so confused and hopeless
It all happen so fast and so much going on
I feel so bad
My life getting worster in school
I can’t blame you and I
Didn’t expect it
When you hurt me back and get revenge
You are one to blame on and me too
This end in tragedy and so many damages happen
This is life
We are one to be blame
We like to get attention that’s
What all our friends say I bet
We turn out to be jerk especially you
I will never spread rumors about you like the way you did to me
I feel so hurt and sad that you did that
This side I never saw before
You do anything to hurt me back so badly
My heart is shatter
I thought you were different
Everything reminds me of you
My friends were right about you
I need to take their advices
They getting tired of this and mad
They hate when I changes
They want me stop living like this
You never care about me
Wow, I’m shock right now
I feel so dumb for loving you this long and so much
I’m just speechless right now and I need to live my life
Having fun every day and night
Life is short like I say
Didn’t expect it
To know it now is better
I can move on for good
I’m stupid to wait around longer
Their never going be us or chances going happen
Is all over now and
You live in west of United Stated
I need to trust people and stop lying
Didn’t expect it

poem by Christina Phan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I am the Pretty Girl-Chapter One

Pretty Hurts
 I am the  pretty one,

the one the girls hate

and the boys pant for

and I stand aloof because

there is no room for me to be

who I am.

All I get is people reacting

to how I look

and I see them whisper

'She's so stuck up.'

I am not.

I am lonely and superior to them

that make these kinds of comments.

So all day I have to take the stares

and the mini-hatreds

just because I am pretty.
 

I like being pretty

it comes easy to me;

takes no effort.

My hair is beautiful and I don't have to do anything to it.

My skin is good. Thank God, no zits

My figure is good

but I get the comments when I walk through-

the Neanderthals always make comments-

and I cannot help it if my parents are rich.

So I am trapped behind this wall.

I don't have to study hard to get good grades;

this school is easy.

I don't have to work hard for anything.

Things just come to me.

But, it has made a prison for me

and because I don't have to get smart

or work hard-

I can get by on my looks,

my teachers like me-

one too much;

so in the end I am doing what I hate

others do-

seeing me only in terms of how I look-

and I realize I am doing the same thing to myself.
 

I am my looks.
I am trapped.

So when boys try to talk to me I clam up

because I think there is only one thing they want.

And most of the time I am right.

They do-just want

one thing.

Other's of them just want to say I am their girl friend

even if that is not true just so they can brag to their friends.

Some of them lie and claim they had you,
or you

are lesbian
just because you don't like them.

I am the pretty girl and most times that is pretty sad.

So I don't talk to anyone except other pretty girls.

They understand. They have the pretty girl thing too.

So we stand around sometimes and think we are superior

but we also think secretly we might be inferior and lonely too

and who is going to feel sorry for the pretty girl? Nobody that's who.

So I dated the football guy who was pretty too.
It seemed he would understand-handsome and pretty,
the same thing I thought.

Boy was I wrong. He was his mothers' boy
and only liked me

because he thought there was prestige in it.
And I did it for the same reason.

We both were boring when alone
and tried to look like the super couple
when people were around.

I was bored and truth be told I was also boring.

I had nothing to say
and all's he wanted to talk about was football

and sex.

I told him no.

And then he latched onto my best friend, well I called her my best friend, but 

we were not really friends. We just sorta hung out together.

My real best friend was Alma for a while.
She was the ugly sidekick

pretty girls seem to attract.
All she wanted to do was be with me.

She did everything I asked her to,
sometimes without me even asking.
I began to think that just maybe being pretty was being superior.
People like Alma

made it easy to think that.
She seemed to think I was superior.

I used to lie to her about all the boys coming on to me
and things they said and she believed those lies.

I felt I had to tell the stories
because the stories seemed to mean so much to her.
Besides telling her the phony stories
gave me a fantasy life to make up for my real one.

We were a good pair of friends for a while
until Alma told me one day about her love;
Her love for me.
And I realized she was not talking about friend love.

That's another thing,
you get come on's from both genders
and some like Alma turn into stalkers.

She lied and told her friend that we had been together.
A total lie.

That is why high school is prison camp for the pretty girl.

I broke down one day while talking to Geek Billy
who came over to my house to fix my computer.
He was rad-geek and shorter than me
and I never really considered him a real person or anything
so I was talking like he was not even there.
I was saying why me, why does everyone hate me?

He started yammering that he didn't hate me,
and put his arm around me.
I looked up and saw that he was not trying to jump my bones,
he really was trying to comfort me
like he understood and all that.
It was laughable you know.

I was so above him and everything
but he seemed that day like a real person to me
for just a tiny minute.

He left and I lay on my bed
and wrote into my diary-
'Geek boy loves me.'

I wrote: 'I am the pretty girl no one likes
because I am above them.' 

poem by Lonnie Hicks
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Worth the Pain

We were best friends from the start
It's been ten or eleven years.
Who would of ever thought
I'd cry so many tears?

The laughter through High School
Always kept me going.
The love between the two of us
Never stopped growing.

Graduation came
And we went our separate ways.
Two years later, we met again...
Oh my, what a day!

I fell for him so hard
That I couldn't find myself.
Lost in so many emotions
I didn't know what I felt.

It was great for a while
Then I started to back away.
I took him for granted
Our relationship began to decay.

After trials of tears and fighting
He decided it would be best,
If we went our separate ways
And put our love to the test.

We tried again to work things out
But it simply didn't work.
And now my pain and selfishness
Continues to stay and lurk.

What if I'd been more open
And cared a little more?
Would he still love me enough
To not walk out the door?

My regret is that I let
Our friendship slip away.
But if I had the chance again,
I'd let him love me anyway.

For if in time we're friends again,
The pain will slowly go.
And the road we took to get us there,
We will surely know...

That it was worth to be loved
And needed at the time,
Because some people go through life
And love they never find.

poem by Trish Spencer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Bad Pretty Girl

I am the pretty one,
the one the girls hate
and the boys pant for
and I stand aloof because
there is no room for me to be
who I am.

All I get is people reacting
to how I look
and I see them whisper
'She's so stuck up.'
I am not.
I am lonely and superior to them
that make these kinds of comments.

So all day I have to take the stares
and the mini-hatreds
just because I am pretty.
I like being pretty
it comes easy to me;
takes no effort.

My hair is beautiful and I don't have to do anything to it.
My skin is good. Thank God, no zits
My figure is good
but I get the comments when I walk through-
the Neanderthals always make comments-
and I cannot help it if my parents are rich.

So I am trapped behind this wall.
I don't have to study hard to get good grades;
this school is easy.
I don't have to work hard for anything.
Things just come to me.
But it has made a prison for me
and because I don't have to get smart
or work hard-
I can get by on my looks.
My teachers like me-
one too much,
so in the end I am doing what I hate
others do-
seeing me only in terms of how I look
and I realize I am doing the same thing to myself.

I am my looks. I am trapped.
So when boys try to talk to me I clam up
because I think there is only one thing they want.
And most of the time I am right. They do-just want
one thing.
Other's of them just want to say I am their girl friend
even if that is not true just so they can brag to their friends.

Some of them lie and claim they had you, or you
are lesbian just because you don't like them.

I am the pretty girl and most times that is pretty sad.

So I don't talk to anyone except other pretty girls.
They understand. They have the pretty girl thing too.

So we stand around sometimes and think we are superior
but we also think secretly we might be inferior and lonely too
and who is going to feel sorry for the pretty girl? Nobody that's who.

So I dated the football guy who was pretty too. It seemed he would
understand-handsome and pretty, the same thing I thought.
Boy was I wrong. He was his mothers' boy and only liked me
because he thought there was prestige in it. And I did it for
the same reason. We both were boring when alone and tried to
look like the super couple when people were around.
I was bored and truth be told I was also boring.
I had nothing to say and all's he wanted to talk about was football
and sex.
I told him no.
And then he latched onto my best friend, well I called her my best friend, but
we were not really friends. We just sorta hung out together.
My real best friend was Alma for a while. She was the ugly sidekick
pretty girls seem to attract. All she wanted to do was be with me. She did
everything I asked her to, sometimes without me even asking. I began to think that just maybe being pretty was being superior. People like Alma
made it easy to think that. She seemed to think I was superior.
I used to lie to her about all the boys coming on to me and things they said and she believed those lies. I felt I had to tell the stories because the stories seemed to mean so much to her. Besides telling her the phony stories gave me a fantasy life to make up for my real one.
We were a good pair of friends for a while until Alma told me one day about her love. Her love for me. And I realized she was not talking about friend love.
That's another thing, you get come ons from both genders and some like Alma turn into stalkers. She lied and told her friend that we had been together. A total lie.
That is why high school is prison camp for the pretty girl.
I broke down one day while talking to Geek Billy who came over to my house to fix my computer. He was rad-geek and shorter than me and I never really considered him a real person or anything so I was talking like he was not even there. I was saying 'why me, why does everyone hate me? '
He started yammering that he didn't hate me, and put his arm around me. I looked up and saw that he was not trying to jump my bones, he really was trying to comfort me like he understood and all that. It was laughable you know. I was so above him and everything but he seemed that day like a real person to me for just a tiny minute.
He left and I lay on my bed and wrote into my diary-'Geek boy loves me.'
I wrote: 'I am the pretty girl no one likes because I am above them.'

poem by Lonnie Hicks
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Baby Daddy

[Wyclef]
Right now if you raising some children that don't belong to you
But you know you're taking care of them
Please report on the dancefloor, let's go now
Do the stepfather dance (to the right)
Do the stepfather dance (to the left)
Do the stepfather dance
Baby mama don't hurt nobody, come on
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef]
Girl I love you
And ain't a thing that I wouldn't do for you
You my boo and we be sticking just like glue
But your kid's got me losing my mind
Wanna know if I want you
And if I do then you just gotta come to
Now the family be fighting through hard times
But I'm gon' treat them like they're mine
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef]
Fresh pair of Jordan's you had it
When you want a Playstation you had it (Vendetta)
First day of school you had it
Even when I didn't have it
Once upon a time, not long ago
Before the dreads, when I had the afro
When in school I used to pass the love notes
If you like me check yes if not check no
Flip the page now everything changed
The kid don't even have my last name
Sometime I feel like I'm paying child support
Someone please call people's court
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef (Redman)]
No, (come on) I can't seem to take this pressure no more (come on)
And ? told me young man that life's too short
So leave ya kids at home, meet me on the dancefloor
[Redman]
Yo Wyclef you a wild boy, check it out
[Wyclef (Redman)]
Do the stepfather dance, to the right
Do the stepfather dance, to the left
Do the stepfather dance (yeah)
Jersey's in the house
[Redman (Wyclef)]
We go, Redman, ganjah the smoke
Listen to the sounds of my nigga funk doc, oh
Wyclef, you know you rule hip-hop, oh
Yo let me handle my bidness (go ahead)
If you love your sons like I do, dress like you and
Air's on his feet, and shinin' his jewels
Brag when he get back to school
Saying my daddy bought me Vendetta 2 for Gamecube
You know kids that try to get fast
That's when I open up a can of whoop ass
Listen, I'm the boss, if you do what I say
Like Nas, the world is yours, let's go
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy (Redman)
I treat him like he's my own (we in the house)
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad (aha)
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now (aha)
I may not be your father (ey)
But I'm the closest thing to him (come on)
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy (I ain't that baby's daddy)
I treat him like he's my own (like he's my own)
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad (breaks in the pad)
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now (you ain't my dad)
I may not be your father (aha)
But I'm the closest thing to him (yeah)
[Wyclef]
Do the stepfather dance
Do the stepfather dance (eh)
Do the stepfather dance

song performed by by Wyclef Jean
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Baby Daddy

[Wyclef]
Right now if you raising some children that don't belong to you
But you know you're taking care of them
Please report on the dancefloor, let's go now
Do the stepfather dance (to the right)
Do the stepfather dance (to the left)
Do the stepfather dance
Baby mama don't hurt nobody, come on
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef]
Girl I love you
And ain't a thing that I wouldn't do for you
You my boo and we be sticking just like glue
But your kid's got me losing my mind
Wanna know if I want you
And if I do then you just gotta come to
Now the family be fighting through hard times
But I'm gon' treat them like they're mine
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef]
Fresh pair of Jordan's you had it
When you want a Playstation you had it (Vendetta)
First day of school you had it
Even when I didn't have it
Once upon a time, not long ago
Before the dreads, when I had the afro
When in school I used to pass the love notes
If you like me check yes if not check no
Flip the page now everything changed
The kid don't even have my last name
Sometime I feel like I'm paying child support
Someone please call people's court
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy, I treat him like he's my own
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now
I may not be your father
But I'm the closest thing to him
[Wyclef (Redman)]
No, (come on) I can't seem to take this pressure no more (come on)
And ? told me young man that life's too short
So leave ya kids at home, meet me on the dancefloor
[Redman]
Yo Wyclef you a wild boy, check it out
[Wyclef (Redman)]
Do the stepfather dance, to the right
Do the stepfather dance, to the left
Do the stepfather dance (yeah)
Jersey's in the house
[Redman (Wyclef)]
We go, Redman, ganjah the smoke
Listen to the sounds of my nigga funk doc, oh
Wyclef, you know you rule hip-hop, oh
Yo let me handle my bidness (go ahead)
If you love your sons like I do, dress like you and
Air's on his feet, and shinin' his jewels
Brag when he get back to school
Saying my daddy bought me Vendetta 2 for Gamecube
You know kids that try to get fast
That's when I open up a can of whoop ass
Listen, I'm the boss, if you do what I say
Like Nas, the world is yours, let's go
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy (Redman)
I treat him like he's my own (we in the house)
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad (aha)
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now (aha)
I may not be your father (ey)
But I'm the closest thing to him (come on)
[Wyclef]
I ain't that baby's daddy (I ain't that baby's daddy)
I treat him like he's my own (like he's my own)
But sometimes sit and wonder how can I father another man's son (oh)
When ? breaks in the pad (breaks in the pad)
Shorty wanna scream 'I ain't his real dad' now (you ain't my dad)
I may not be your father (aha)
But I'm the closest thing to him (yeah)
[Wyclef]
Do the stepfather dance
Do the stepfather dance (eh)
Do the stepfather dance

song performed by by Wyclef Jean
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Gross stupidity

It was at a time
where you had
to wear a uniform to school,
had to cut your hair
to a predetermined length

and got caned
if you were naughty,
failed a test,
or sometimes
to let the teacher
enforce his will.

If you complained at home
about getting a hiding at school,
you would probably
get another there too
if you deserved it,
but if you were right,
were punished unfairly
or without a real cause

it was seen in a different light
and a teacher
or whoever the punisher was
would have to face
your father in a fight
and could easily
be hit into hospital.

School regulations stipulated
that you couldn’t receive
more than six whippings on a day,
but at Estcourt high school
on my first day
at the new school
in standard nine (now grade eleven)
I received twelve.

We were lining up
to go to the hall
and a prefect told me
to cut my hair
which were just a bit
longer than how
they wanted it.

I said that I would
and while we were walking
to the entrance of the hall
I was told the same thing
over and over again.

On the eighth time
I told the English prefect
in Afrikaans
not to catch the pip
which was a Afrikaans adage
for do not catch a fit.

He told me to repeat
what I had said,
which I did
and thought
that I was cursing him
and took me
to the Headboy
who was English.

Where I had to repeat
myself again
and I did
as believed in telling
the truth.

The head boy took me
to the principal,
(Mister Robert Smith) ,
who thought
that I was saying
something like
go and play
with your member.

He called in the
vice-principal
(another Englishman) ,
a man with a red beard,
who was convinced
that I was cursing,
who shoved my head
under a table
and whipped me six times.

When I explained what it meant
they didn’t believe me
and called in a teacher
who taught Afrikaans
and the principal gave me
another six whippings
for being insubordinate
and wanted to expel me
if I didn’t have my hair cut
on by the next day.

I didn’t tell my stepfather
(who wasn’t a dad to me) ,
but even he
would have sorted
the headmaster
and vice-principal out
and it would have been
the Anglo-Boer war
all over again.

At the time I thought
that I was grossly stupid,
but thinking back
the headmaster and vice-principal
was probably more so.

poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Maggie Mae

Wake up Maggie, I think I've got something to say to you
It's late September and I really should be back at school
I know I keep you amused
But I fell I'm being used
Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more
You led me away from home
Just to save you from being alone
You stole my heart and that's what really hurts
The morning sun when it's in your eyes really shows your age
But that don't worry me none, in my eyes you're everything
I laughed at all of your jokes
My love you didn't need to coax
Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more
You led me away from home
Just to save you from being alone
You stole my soul and that's a pain I can do without
All I needed was a friend to lend a helping hand
But you turned into a lover and mother, what a lover, you wore me out
All you did was wreck my bed
And in the morning kick me in the head
Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more
You led me away from home
'Cause you didn't want to be alone
You stole my heart, I couldn't leave you if I tried
I suppose I could collecd my books and go on back to school
Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living at playing pool
Or find myself a rock and roll band
That needs a helping hand
Oh Maggie, I wished I'd never seen your face
You made a first class fool out of me
But I'm as blind as a fool can be
You stole my heart but I love you anyway
I'd never seen your face
I'll get on back home, one of these days

song performed by by Rod Stewart
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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HANGING WITH THE FOLLIES...by talile ali

AS IF STUCK IN SOME KIND OF QUEER
IT HAPPENED HERE AGAIN LAST YEAR
THE STUFF YOU HAD TO SAY TO ME
DEEPEN THE HEAD, NO ECSTASY
ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU WANTED ME
IT'S BETTER, WE'RE FEAR TODAY

EYES A GLARE AND BREATHING HARD
YOUR HANDS ARE ROAMING TOWARD MY SHARD
UP AND DOWN THE SIDE OF ME
CREEPING AS IF HAD TO BE
THIRSTY EYES IN AGONY
ABOUT YOUR WASTED MARRIAGE

HUSBAND LEFT, YOU TOOK HIM BACK
MONEY, HOME, AND GOOD CREDIT
WHITE MANS WORLD BEFORE IT GOT BENT
THE KIDS AND YOU CAN NOW BE SENT
TO DO THE THINGS YOU NEVER MEANT
AND TEACH THIS MAN WHO TREATED YOU LIKE THIS
WHO'S NOW THE FOOL

AIN'T IT CLEAR
EVERY YEAR
ALL THE THINGS YOU DID
TO BE HERE
YOU NEED TO STOP THE MADNESS
TOO MUCH SADNESS

STOP THE LUSTING OF THE ONES
YOU CAN'T HAVE BECAUSE THEY'RE FUN
MAKING THEM A NEEDED BAN
GIVE YOURSELF ANOTHER HAND
LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE AS
THEY COME AND SIT BESIDE YOU
\

poem by Talile Ali
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Facing the Truth of Your Lies

Back in September of 2004 -
A couple of months after
My short stay in the hospital
For severe depression -
I tried to contact you to see
If you still missed me,
As you rudely told me
To leave you alone,
That you were married
And had moved, had your
Last name changed to
Your new husband's
And were expecting
A brand new child.

Two years later I learn
The truth through none
Other than that fake 'husband'
Of yours, who posted a message
In one of his hosting forums
Back in 2005 when he was 19
And you were 28.

And so I face the truth, that
You wanted me to face
So much - the truth that
You were always lying
To me and to others
About who you really are -
An insecure and confused
Woman with two children
Without a real father.

No, you were never married
To that geek, who's so good
With computers, who
Drives around fixing other
People's technical problems,
Putting 8-9 hours each day
And not going to school,
To support you and your
Two kids, who are not even
His in a biological or
Legal sense.

For you two were 'living in sin'
Together, as he puts it,
Being 'disowned' by the
Majority of his family
And his manipulative
Mother, who was using
Him to get back at his father.

Well, it looks like he traded
His mother for a new one,
Who's just as manipulative
And conniving.

And I wonder what you do
When he's not around?
Do you stay at home and
Play a fake 'good wife'?
Or do you explore new men
And new options?

Oh yes,
He calls you his fiancée now -
After two years of living together -
But knowing you, I wonder
If you really want to get
Married and miss a chance
That something better comes
Along?

Well, I wish you luck in
Your decision, but I
Just want to say that
I loved you even if I was
A fool to believe you.

March 30,2006

poem by Alexander Shaumyan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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