During National Poetry Month, we will be posting poems that originally ran in one of the ten journals published by NCTE. This poem “I STAND HERE” by the students of Emily Smith-Buster comes from Language Arts:
I STAND HERE
I stand here … in the street
Arms open
Waiting …
Waiting to get hurt
By people
Who said
They would bring
Justice to the
United States of America
Back in 1964
Back when the Civil Rights Act was signed
But they have killed,
Eric Garner,
Tamir Rice,
Trayvon Martin
And many more
I want to make history
Like Martin Luther King did
Like Obama did
Being a movement starter
Being the first black president …
So I stand here … in the street
Arms open
Waiting.