Friday 31 May 2013

Black or White

In R.E. we listened to a song called the Death of Emmet Till by Bob Dylan and it really upset me. The story is of a young black boy from Chicago whistled at a white women, the men who saw this happen locked him in a barn and tortured him before drowning him in lake. Even though the men confessed to murdering poor Emmet Till, the murderers new the men on jury, who were also racist, and they were never convicted. The song by Bob Dylan is on the link below.





The story got me thinking and wrote this poem.

White hooded ghosts haunt the night                                                            
Screams of terror darken light                                                                                               
Everywhere you go everywhere you look                                                     
Black bodies swinging of those cruelly took                                                             

Burning crosses on your door
Black blood spilt upon your floor
Dreams late at night make sleep impossible
Daily torture from whites unstoppable

What they did can not be changed
The past wiped and rearranged
At least we all know what can happen
If we let go of others let dreams flatten

None of us want this to happen again
So let us all remember, not in vain
It was our people, it was our blood
That made blacks suffer fell down with a thud

We let others die
 Don’t hold your head high
It’s time to fight back
Whether you’re white or black





Mushrooms...

So today I was hunting through my memory sticks and found one full of creative writing pieces from a lunch time club I went to at school, we had a challenge to write a story based on one word that was picked randomly out of a hat. My word was Mushrooms....

The room swirled around me as another creature appeared at the door, It’s eyes a luminous green were glaring at me. Soon I’d have a whole army of them, I scanned the room counting them up.  My eyes, by the end of it were an array of colours, purples, blues, pinks and greens. In total there were eight of the creatures, three of them had made themselves comfortable lounging about on the chairs, with their feet up on the table. Another two were standing side by side, these were the only creatures that looked remotely alike. Long pink hair fell loosely around both their shoulders, their eyes, not ovals like human but horizontal slits so it wasn't easy to work out exactly where they were looking. I'm not sure whether I could name the colour of their skin, because it wasn't really a specific colour. When I first looked at them they reminded me of a Child's finger-painting that a parent proudly displays on the fridge. So I guess it was more of a mixed colour, dirty rainbow like.
 
The first two that arrived were rummaging about in the kitchen I could hear shelves falling and glasses smashing but felt no urge to venture in and stop them. Presumably they were also the youngest because when they arrived they were around my ankles asking questions about my outrageous clothes before I‘d even had a chance to say ‘hello’. It was funny, I didn't remember getting dressed at all let alone dressing badly; but sure enough when I looked down at myself, outrageous my clothes were indeed.

A large crash made my eyes flicker and I turned to catch the final moment of a light bulb hitting the floor. It was like I was watching a movie, in slow motion, I saw every shard of glass fall and shatter but was powerless to move and stop it. In fact I don’t think I had the energy to move. I tried taking a step forward but then realised I was sitting down, was I a minute ago? I couldn't remember. The final creature in the room was by far the largest, and the ugliest. Thick hair hung from its potato shaped head; the hair was crusted at the roots and a sickly yellow colour that got darker the further towards its bottom it went. Huge warts covered his hands and wrists like something out of a picture book, I could barely believe my eyes. It stood at least seven foot with its head hunched into its shoulder, chin touching it’s chest, I smiled; or at least tried to but I think it was more of a ‘please don’t eat me’ kind of smile’ which I must have  pulled off well as it stood to one side and glanced around the room. Hardly moving at all.

The two little ones came flying out of the kitchen door faster than they realised and both crashed into me, making me topple over and fall into the broken glass. They stood shocked, little eyes wide- scared almost; but I couldn't say or do anything and seeing as the glass didn't hurt me or seem to draw blood I stayed put and let them move around me to their seats. Twisting my head in an awkward fashion I watched them both greedily stuff food into their mouths. For children, at least I think they were children they had very large mouths and a even larger appetite, it took me a while to work out what exactly they were filling their bottomless stomachs with but I caught a glimpse of the packet and realised they were mushrooms. Disgusting things; never liked them myself always reminded me of slime, the texture in your mouth is revolting.  My mum didn't like them either, it was just me and my mum though, dad liked them but he didn't live here. Where was here? It wasn't my lounge we were sitting in., maybe I’d visited the creatures home, no I was sure all eight had arrived after me.

The noise level lowered to a whisper as one of the more comfortable creatures stepped up, taking charge. He began to talk, but in a strange language, he sounded rather odd, but for some reason I understood him, I wasn't listening because well I only talk English  I was lip reading.  His lips made the same shapes as in the English language but gibberish came out. He was saying that we needed to pull together and work as a team, he was saying we needed to lift someone, or something up to examine the damage. Trying to make sense if anything he was telling the others I must have looked confused because they all looked at me. All eight of them, the two leftover comfortable ones got up and moved quickly of the room, I think they were going to throw up while the two little ones looked pale and very faint. Everything became a blur as bright lights flashed around my eyes and the two similar creatures took the younger ones away leaving me alone with the leader and the ugly one.

“We’re going to roll you back over now, stay calm.” I shook my head as I felt myself roll onto my back, I was sure I was already on my back but obviously not. Straining my eyes I searched for the creatures but saw none, just two men in uniforms. Doctors? No one of them a doctor on of them a policeman, standing on his walky-talky with his arms crossed. “He’s coming round now officer.” The doctor leaned close to my face. “You’re going to be taken to the hospital okay?” I think I nodded but I couldn't be sure. I looked again for the creatures but the policeman stood where the ugly one was and the doctor was blocking my view of the rest of the room. I heard my name, it was coming from the policeman’s mouth. He was talking to somebody through his walky-talky. I could hear him.
“We've got a fifteen year old male here, we think he’s under the influence of hallucinogenic fungi, he’s delirious and badly hurt. Several wounds to the back and thighs from a house party, we think he may have glass shards in the wounds, over.”

Trapped in this World of Confusions

Hi! My name is Lauren, I am at uni at the moment studying psychology which I love. I have been writing poems since I was about twelve as a way of coping with stress or just a bad day. I also write stories but poems seem to come out better! I showed my friend a few poems and she said that I should start a blog, so here I am! I named it the Poetic Thoughts of an Army Girlfriend because the poems I write now days are frequently about this role I carry, however some posts will be old poems that I uncover in my files. Anyway happy reading, I hope the poems carry as much meaning when they are read as they have to me as I write them.

This first poem is one that I wrote aged 13 and won a NSPCC competition with it where it was published for one day on their website.

Trapped in this world of Confusions

I’m sitting at the table playing with my bear
Daddy tells me I’m not nice that I’ve been very bad
He’s takes poor bear away from me
I think it makes him glad

When he’ s gone and Mummy comes in
She cuddles and holds me tight
She says I’m good and not to listen
Because he says it out of spite


The sun goes down and the safety goes
As mummy hears the click in the door
In swaggers daddy, mummy says hello
He hits her hard , I want to hide I lower to the floor

I cover my head and clench my eyes tight
As I wait for my daddy to stop
But once he done with mummy
Its me he seems to spot

I curl up in the smallest ball
But still he ventures forward
I cry and pray for him to go
I say the prayer to the lord

When I reach the final verse I try to say amen
But daddy starts to shout
Spits froths around  his mouth
As hurtful words pour out

Mummy stands and leaves the room
She doesn’t try to help
I’m hope she’s going to call the police
But soon my hopes of that melt

Daddy clenches his fist
It’s something that I dread
Although I love my mummy
I wish she was here instead

She tells me that I’m dreaming
That daddy’s aren’t that bad
But every time she says that
She’s looking awful sad

Mummy tries to make excuses
To make up for what daddy’s done
She buys me toys and little games
But she knows I can’t be won

No matter what she says is true
I know they’re only lies
She doesn’t know I worry
When I hear her cries

It seems the only thing that helps
Is mummy’s poor delusions
So she’s left me now for make-believe
Trapped in this world of Confusions