Hope Immortal

Inspired by the Auto-genicide I see ...all over the city by the crews hanging out ...sleeping on their futures by kids dropping out of school because ?? while others struggle to stay in ? wanting to hand out the " stones " to take responsibility and

 

 

Hope...

Leaps in the womb of the broken and oppressed

driving endurance to exceed even its’ own limitations

 

Tucked...

into back pockets of little boys

when people were colored 

butterflies still had wings

and metamorphosized into greatness

 

Burned...

into the backs

hands

and feet

of those…

who walked

because their soul

was not for sale

 

Scribed...

on the tongues

of Griots

and Elders

when ink could shed blood

 

Hieroglyphically recorded...

in stone walls

built to protect

not prohibit

 

Hope...

Once rode the tip of a warriors spear

remaining in his footsteps

trailblazing glory…he would not live to receive

 

Songs sung...

in many tongues

of genesis

exile

and renaissance

 

Rising...

in unlikely places

on the petals of urban crocus

close calls

history

and miracles

 

Trapped...

 in under layers of concrete

crushed by the rubble

of weakness and fear

dogma and excuse

stereotyped 

 

Cashed in..

and Sold-Out

for the appearance ...of arrival

without venturing the journey

 

Sprawled...

across the horizon

like tagging project walls

in the heat of city summers

with toxic misplaced pride

rebellion

sterilizing dreams

vacuuming crumbs of

destiny and excellence

 

Auto-genocide...

extinction 

death by friendly fire

comrades have morphed into enemies

 

Hope...

Rises boldly on prayers of the faithful

that the fight

will not die off

and victims

will become

Victors

that generations might seek the face of God

 

~ J.Hampton                    

Author's Note

I'll work on this later...

Reviews

[raining]

someone might say "too abstract" (whatever abstract really means) but no. I dont think so. I think, like a painting on a museum wall you have to step back to see correctly. how far I had to step back i couldnt say, but thankful I gave it another look. can there be abstract poetry the way there is abstract painting?

my son in law (now ex son in law) publishes poetry and writes himself using words as a medium of color expression. I will try and look for his email address. bye

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I greatly enjoyed this! I understood your meanings perfectly...they are plain as Gullah hymns or the tears of mothers praying for their children...I was reading an article about a minor league baseball pitcher in Sports Illustrated from North Carolina who plowed the tobacco fields with a team of mules during the depression...his daddy was dead and he was the man of the house. He was five years old! I could envision his mother praying. Anyway, I loved this...

[Ghiasquared]

So many lines in this were tight, dramatic. Although it is finished in one respect, as in it can stand on it's own as a great work. I see where you were looking, in the cracks and crannies of this one for a little sumthin' sumthin'.

[RAWR!]

Hieroglyphically recorded... just flashed my mind and showed me motion, horizontally and vertically. awesome piece just love the rawness

[spence]

I feel that the meaning of this piece is best summarised in the lines, 'stone walls, built to protect not prohibit'. The species has most definitely been walking further from the path of righteousness over the centuries. Perhaps this is the product of following and looking out to others for answers to internal questioning...'song's sung, in many tongues' is a fave line. You opened pandora's box with this one... let's just hope there's some hope left in there!

[Emily B]

I came back and read it again. It gave me chills. It's good. I could hear your voice rising about the astonished crowd. These words are beyond amazing. You should get this published as soon as you can.

[Emily B]

What!?!?!? Work on it? From here I sit it reads like perfection!!! I could almost hear your voice rising above the crowd, your song is one we all need. There is power in these words.

[Markymark]

And lets hope they do. Love the closing line. It might need a tweak here and there to state succinctly the essence of hope (and all it has taken to bring it to the masses). I normally don't recommend this poem to many people, but I am feeling a kinship with the poet in you. Please give my poem "July Storm" a read and you may get a feel of exactly one of the instruments that God saw fit to use to bring hope to the masses. I didn't do him justice, but give it a read. It needs a tweak too. I like where you're taking this poem...keep going.

Later my friend,

Mark

[TL Boehm]

amen. this is an anthem. A mantra. Strongly penned and articulate. PEACE!

[AK]

"that generations might seek the face of God"...
There it is. You bundled it all up in that last line J.
You wrire with a passion and insight beyond your years I think. But not beyond your experience. Salute!

[Tomás Ó C..]

Its coming together nicely...