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This poem reflects our journey of being born in Somalia, spending early childhood in Kenya, growing up as a child and teenagers in India and finally being adults in America – a place where we are using each platform given to us in terms of education and work in hopes of serving our country, inshAllah.

Somali

Waking up with rainbows that decorating the beautiful sky
In the land famously known as the Nation of Poets
As I tipped topped to my mother’s room for my morning kiss
I heard loud thunders of gun shots that would drastically change my life leaving me homeless for decades to come
As the war of ignorance and hatred tore my people apart
I bid farewell to the beauty and comfort that Somalia once possessed in hopes of finding a new shelter
The strings of my heart will forever yearn for my homeland

Kenya

We made it to a land where my Somalis are famously known as the infamous waryas
Physically we are secured, mentality tortured with the continuous chants of wapi kipanda yako?
Failure in having this Identity card would result in police brutality
The only means to escape was bribery
Oh my dear Africa, aren’t you exploited not only by the oppressor but also by the victim?
Oh my dear Kenya, I pray for your well-being and the end of the vultures that prey on your resources
On your beauty
On your kindness
Your acceptance of refugees of all ethnicities and religion is truly admired
Dear Kenya, you remain home only second to the land of my forefathers

India

They say it happens only in India
Where the country has the ability to embrace you regardless of your color, religion and background
We say It also happens in India where the dark ones are alienated and frowned upon
Words like Kali and African ape are chanted as the National anthem of country…
You see skin color is what describes you in this great land
The blacks are naturally inferiors in this society
India is also the land where we spent our childhood and teen life
We learned of family values and loving others unconditionally
This land instilled the love of education in our hearts
It taught us of being ambitious and striving for the best
It taught us to be tolerant individuals
It taught us to ignore the ignorant
It taught us to appreciate our beautiful black skin!

America

The land of opportunities, the land of refugees, the land of gold, the land of this and that and that and this and the land of immigrants…We are here!
Compare to Somalia it’s relatively peaceful,
Compare to Kenya it’s relatively more accepting
And compare to India this land lacks respect for its elders…
Our hearts shattered seeing elders strolling carts in super markets.
Where are the children so they could serve and care for their parents?
As a refugee you learn and appreciate a lot of things, we hope to never learn and appreciate this side of our new home
Our dreams are finally being fulfilled here…
We are finally living the dream immigrants cherish and protect in their hearts.
Alhamdulilah, praise to Allah Ta’aal for this beautiful journey we have experienced

http://wardheernews.com/Articles_10/Feb ... atima.html

What the hell is this poem. Doesnt even rhyme!

Sounds more like a journal than anything else.

bad poem.

Lol not all poetry has to rhyme guys... you guys don't find it at least eloquently expressed??

Narci

The alleged poet concetrated too much on what she wanted to express rather than following the rules of poem writing.




What makes a good poem ?

1. A good poem must be well written with a concise and accurate use of language. The great advantage of poetry is that it can encapsulate ideas in the minimum of words. This is one of the main distinguishing features of poetry as compared to prose.

2. A good poem should be able to lift the reader out of the ordinary and give glimpses of a more illumining reality.

“To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

- W.Blake.

Here the immortal Blake uses the most basic of items a small grain of sand to conjure most powerfully visions of eternity. These lines are so powerful because they leave to so much to the imagination of the reader.

3. A mantric quality of language. Prose seeks to explain, poetry merely states. Good poetry is not an argument but convinces the reader through its own power.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”

- Keats.

4. A good poem should engage the heart of the reader it should be more than mere intellectual cleverness.

“That love is all there is;
all we know of love”

- Emily Dickinson


5. Good poetry can offer hope from seemingly painful experience. Many great poets deal with our fear of death there poetry offers an alternative view to the pessimism that can pervade man.

“Because I could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me-
The carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

Emily Dickinson wrote frequently on the theme of death. She does not offer certainties but ambiguously points to immortality. To a large extent the reader can make up his own mind. This is another good quality of a poem it engages the reader to think for himself

Poetry often takes its inspiration from nature. Nature is all around but a poet is able to capture its essence in the written word. This brings us a new appreciation for the wonders of nature.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

- W.Wordsworth

6. Poetry from the heart. Good poetry can never be faked. There is a saying that a “poet is born not made” Whether this is true or not writing poetry is not like learning to write by rote.

7. Good poetry is poetry that we can feel an identification with. Whether it is a rhyming sonnet of Shakespeare or a simple statement of W.Carlos Williams we feel in very good poetry that it articulates our own inner feeling. There does not seem a separation between poet and reader. The reader himself can feel a oneness with the poet. In this poem Sri Chinmoy identifies with struggling humanity and at the same time offers a Seers vision of a better future.

“I cry aloud, but all in vain;
I helpless, the earth unkind
What soul of might can share my pain?
Death-dart alone I find.”

…
“But hark! I hear Thy golden Flute,
Its notes bring the Summit down.
Now safe am I, O Absolute!
Gone death, gone night's stark frown!”


- From the Golden Flute by Sri Chinmoy

Article by: R.Pettinger 4/01/07

What the hell is this poem. Doesnt even rhyme!

Poetry doesn't have to always ryhme...have you heard of free-verse? Prose poetry? Blank Verse?

LOOL Basra

I see you've done your research, mate

Reuter, very interesting indeed. Seems like u know much about poetry if this ins't 'copy and paste' from the world wide web



A good poem should, of course, touch your heart, make u laugh, smile, it should visit ur imagination box, it should help u scape reality and sometimes help u check back into reality!


Poetry isn't something small to cover in one paper.


Have u read "A Defence of Poetry" by Percy Bysshe Shelley? It is very interesting and covers almost every aspect of poetry

oops! nevermind it says "R.Pettinger 4/01/07" lol sowwy

Narci

My pleasure mate!



OliveOil

i have not read Shelly poems-- but do post one here and lets discuss it.



Narci here is an example of a short poem i have just concucted!


It is about your beloved Somalia of course---remaining in the theme that is...



One day it was glorious with traffic noise,
With flickering sandles, music of all sorts,
tall graceful people with elegant poise,
and another day, it was inglorious with terrific shots.
tall gracefull dead people all over.
All the beauty-escaped with the sound of its horn.
Horn of Africa, gone forever, my love lorn!

Reauter, "A defence of poetry" is not a poem but an essay


Anyways, It was written by Shelley after his good friend Thomas Love Peacock's article "The Four Ages of Poetry" was published, in which peacock attacks and devalues the importance of poetry and writers of their "time"...in "defense of poetry", Shelley reveals the beauty of poetry both intellectually and morally!





Iska daa....I gotta homework to finish I don't want to discuss

OliveOil @lol


Go do your homowork dear-- looool oh by the way-- i have never read any of Shellys poems--however i am a huge fan of Byron---whom Shelly knew. His name came up in one biography i read about byron, Shelly had died suddenly in 1822- drawned! Byron was shocked! Apparently-byron influenced Shelly in his poetry!

Yeah Shelley died young and I don't know wether or not Byron was shocked, but I am gonna take ur word for I don't want to research about their relationship right now...however, Shelley was influenced by Byron only once which he wrote "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"....also I think Shelley's wife Mary was also an old lover of Byron, but I could be wrong...

So what do u do if u don't mind me asking? Are u in ur undergrad or grad? An English major, minor? I am interested please let me know?

OliveOil aka Oxy


I am a psychiatrist at a Harvard medical research facility.