I want to write Page: 1, 2, 3


Of all the poems we have read in the course, Sonia Sanchez's Song No. 2 has been met with perhaps the greatest enthusiasm and has served as a recurring source of inspiration. We therefore conclude with Madonna Delfish's image and poem - so resonant with Sanchez's work and with the idea of literacy as a form of sociopolitical action.


 

Wake up! Get up rise up from your dark sleep
This world is about to crumble, it's about to fall
Come on sisters we can't sit still while our
Life is being fondled with, shake my brothers
We're losing you by the hundreds and thousands
And millions we need your manliness to
Rearrange the deteriorating remains that they left us
My sisters speak up! I can't hear you!
What? Say it louder; they muted you for centuries!
Come on speak up! We are not going to sit in the
Back ground while the sand in the hour glass that represents the
Meager lifespan they gifted us with slip away
Sisters, why are you trembling now release that cannon
The cannon that you feel in the pit of our belly, yesss
It's been there for too long release it
My brothers, stand up wait I can't see you I said stand up
And crush the barriers that corner you,
Stand up and stomp on the floating echoes that kill your dreams
And scatter your sources of education,
Ignite a flame on the black and white that has labeled you
Ignorant
My sisters, I am, I mean we are, I mean they are, I mean us are
I mean we are all in this fight together
My brothers let this be the push you need to redeem yourself,
To regain your strength, dignity and identity
Wake up!
Rise up and take your stance

By Madonna Delfish

 

 

 

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