First, you have to open your mouth
so you can let out a song
that will make the birds jealous enough
to crack the sky.

Make the song so beautiful
angels cry.

Sing ’til church bells ring,
Sing from the heart.
Sing, baby, sing.

– Dannesha Nash, 12

From the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins
Poem of the Month: October 2008

i can’t give you that poem, the one about
love being the most valuable thing in the world
the poem with clever similes sprinkled through it
an ingenious rhyme for the word “cupid”.

i can’t give you that poem, the one about
a modern day hamlet as soldier
and claudius as his corrupt general.

i can’t give you that poem, the one about
a butterfly and its complex simplicity,
the one that makes me famous.

i can’t give you that poem, the one about
the electric chair that washes up on the beach
the one that people misunderstand and
conclude that it’s about overthrowing the government.

nevertheless
one of the attack dogs guarding the junkyard
has six puppies outside the gate.

– Robin Black

From the WritersCorps anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins. This poem is also featured in the exhibition This Place Called Poetry.

Poem of the Month: September 2008

Depends
On
A high school diploma
The gold ink
Shining
On
The paper
In my
Daddy’s office.

– Raiana Dos Anjos

From the 2007 WritersCorps book “Poetry By Numbers” at International Studies Academy, and from the anthology “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins.

Poem of the Month: June 2008

Where you from?
What’s that set you claim?
You gon rep it until the death?
Or til the gunshots rang?
You gon love it even after you right hand get slain?
Yeah it’s fire in yo eyes but do you still feel pain?
You gon try a legal hustle or you gon jus sell Kane?
Boo you got knowledge past yo years
Why you don’t use yo brain?
I guess you think cuz I’m a woman I ain’t laced wit game?
You at an awkward disposition while you on the corner pitchin
But baby boy is you 4 getting that yo gurl home alone wishin?
And you fate is in the distance servin a long prison sentence
Because yo palms won’t stop itchin you gon be lyin in a ditch
&
If you wonder how I know call it
Woman’s intuition

– Sharel Miller

From Poetic Justice, a WritersCorps publication at Ida B. Wells High School, and the anthology “Tell the World”

Poem of the Month: March 2008

A hero is someone who stands up for
what they believe in and fights for what is right.
Some powerful heroes in the world that I know about,

heard about, or learned about in school are
Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks.

These are people who fought for what was right,
even when all odds were against them.
I think that defines a true hero.

I think of these people as heroes,
but none of them has had a direct impact on my life.
They weren’t there to stop me from crying

When I fell off my bike and scraped my knee.
They weren’t there to console me each time I
woke up in a cold sweat because someone was after me

and they surely don’t make sure that I
eat everyday and never go hungry and
that I always have clothes on my back.

There’s just one person
who does all of this for me
and he is my true hero.

he is my dad.

– Chea Sayon

From a WritersCorps publication at Mercy Housing California, and from “Tell the World,” published by HarperCollins.

Poem of the Month: January 2008