Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA YOU WERE BORN
IN YOUR FIGHT AGAINST

RACIAL INEQUALITY YOU WERE SCORNED
JANUARY 15TH WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY
NOW ANNUALLY IT’S MEMORIALIZE
AND COMMEMORATED AS MLK JR DAY
A LEADER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
YOU FOUGHT HARD FOR OUR GENERAL IMPROVEMENT
INCLUDING VOTING RIGHTS, LABOR RIGHTS
JUSTICE AND EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL
IT WAS YOUR MISSION, IT WAS YOUR CALL
YOU SPOKE OUT AGAINST RACISM AND SEGREGATION

ENCOURAGED UNITY IN THE NATION, TO MANY YOU BROUGHT SALVATION

YOU PREACHED NON-VIOLENCE AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
YOUR CHRISTIANITY EVIDENT, WITH YOUR BAPTIST INFLUENCE

YOU GRAPPLED AGAINST POVERTY

ALL YOU YEARNED FOR WAS HUMANITY AND RACIAL EQUALITY
A GREAT ORATOR YOU WERE, IN WASHINGTON IN 1963, YOU UTTERED
YOUR SPEECH “I HAVE A DREAM” WHICH IS ALWAYS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE IN 1964 YOU WON
YOU, THE BAPTIST PREACHERS SON, THE RIGHTEOUS ONE
TIRELESSLY YOU WORKED AS AN ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE
FOR BLACKS, POOR, AND THOSE WE REPUDIATE
YOU ATTENDED & LED CAMPAIGNS SIT INS’, RIOTS
MARCHES AND BOYCOTTS, YOU WERE A GIANT

DAY AFTER YOUR FINAL SPEECH IN 1968, “I HAVE BEEN TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP”
THEN YOUR ADVOCACY WAS STOPPED, BY A BULLET, A FATAL SHOT
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR, OUR ICON, ALTHOUGH LONG GONE

YOU REMAIN OUR HERO-UNSUNG

WRITTEN BY: CHARMAINE ALLWOOD HANSON

I Am Unique…

I AM ME

UNIQUE

DIFFERENT FROM YOU

I AM MYSTIQUE

I HAVE MY OWN STYLE

I HAVE MY OWN TRAITS

I DO EMULATE

 FROM OTHERS WHO DEMONSTRATE

THE SAME CHARACTER

GOOD DEEDS & WAYS

THAT I LOVE AND ADVOCATE

I DON’T DICTATE

I TEACH AND PRAISE

AND I DO PORTRAY

CONSTRUCTIVE VIBES

BECAUSE I AM OF THE TRIBE

TO BRING POSITIVITY

ALL TIME

By Charmaine Allwood-Hanson

Our Heroine: Queen Nanny

Image courtesy of Originalpeople.org

YOU WERE MYSTICAL, YOU WERE TACTICAL

 YOU WERE RADICAL

MANY SAY YOU WERE MILITANT

OTHERS SAY YOU WERE VIGILANT

I SAY YOU WERE DOMINANT

A MIGHTY WOMAN

SOME SAY YOU WERE A STRATEGIST

FAR FROM BEING A PACIFIST

I SAY YOU WERE AN ACTIVIST

TO THE ENGLISH YOU WERE AN ANTAGONIST

YOU DEFEATED THE WICKED COLONIALIST

CONJURING UP YOUR AFRICAN CULTURE & SPIRITS

YOU WERE A SPIRITUALIST

FROM WEST AFRICA YOU CAME

MODERN DAY GHANA, NOW IT’S NAMED

SPECIFICALLY, FROM THE AKAN PEOPLE

YOU WERE A GIANT, YOU WERE A STEEPLE

ADORED FOR YOUR COURAGE AND BRAVERY

YOU FOUGHT VALIANT AGAINST SLAVERY

LEADING PLATOONS OF MAROONS

YOU CREATED HAVOC TO THE BRITISH BRUTAL RULE

TRAINED IN GUERILLA WARFARE

THE BRITISH ARTILLERY YOU DID NOT FEAR

URBAN LEGEND CLAIMED, YOU BLOCKED

BULLETS WITH YOUR DERRIERE

AS YOU FOUGHT, AS YOU COMMANDEERED

TODAY YOUR NAME IS RESPECTED AND REVERED

YOU GAVE US EMPOWERMENT

OUR EMBODIMENT OF RESILIENCE

TO THE OPPRESSORS AND THE OPPONENT

YOU WERE EVIL, YOU WERE AN OMEN

THE BRITISH BRANDED YOU AN ENEMY

YOU WERE TOUGH AND MENANCING

YOU ARE, JAMAICA’S ONLY NATIONAL HEROINE

YOU AND YOUR POSSE FREED MANY OF THE ENSLAVED

THE ABENG WAS USED TO COMMUNICATE

YOUR HIDEOUT WAS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN ENCLAVES

TODAY, YOUR ARE BURIED AT BUMP GRAVE

YOU ARE HONORED FOR YOUR LEGACY

YOUR PORTRAIT IS ON THE JAMAICA’S $500 CURRENCY

WE SALUTE YOU OUR ESTEEMED ASHANTI

SOMETIMES CALLED GRANNY NANNY

OUR BELOVED QUEEN NANNY

WRITTEN BY: CHARMAINE ALLWOOD HANSON 8/20/20

Saga Of George Floyd…

Corona…

YOU DISRUPTED OUR NORMALCY,

SOME SAY YOU ARE A CONSPIRACY

OTHERS SAY YOU ARE A PROPHECY

OUR WAYS OF GREETING HAS CHANGED

SOCIAL CUSTOMS REARRANGED

NO MORE HUGGING AND HAND SHAKING

NOW SOCIAL DISTANCING

USE OF HAND SANITIZER AND DISINFECTING WIPES

 THIS THE NEW NORM, NEW RULES TO CONFORM

 HOME SCHOOLS ARE THE NEW PROCEDURE

PARENTS BECOME TEACHERS, NO MORE PREACHERS

AS CHURCHES CLOSED THEIR DOORS

BANKRUPTCY, WORKING CLASS NOW POOR

UNEMPLOYMENT SURGING, BUSINESS CLOSING

 ECONOMIES FAILING, THE POPULACE WAILING

LEADERSHIP WEAK, THE FUTURE LOOKS BLEAK

POLITICIANS YOU TOOK TOO LONG TO ACT

POPULATIONS DYING, OUR LIFE’S UNDER ATTACK

NOW THINGS ARE OUT OF CONTROL

DESTROYING OUR BODY AND SOUL

CORONA OR COVID19, LEAVE US PLEASE

TAKE YOUR COUGHS, FEVERS AND SNEEZE

CLEAR OUR LUNGS, LET US BREATHE WITH EASE

ADIOS! MR DISEASE

LYRICS BY CHARMAINE ALLWOOD HANSON 3/20/20

I Speak. You Read. Poetry Book

I Speak. You read is a collection of poems by first time Poet and Author Charmaine Allwood Hanson. These poems are inspiring, inspirational and spiritual. The poems are simplistic and easy to read, and Charmaine writes in a melodious tone that captivates listeners and readers.