Written Against Cultural Stagnation

THE OPENING STATEMENT

Society's Forced Question

I thought the world was against me

As a youngin’ I blamed society

So consequently my shortcomings weren’t because of me

It’s funny looking back at the type of mentality

And if I carried that to my present how it would hamper me

And dampen all my dreams and goals within the process

Through blessing received now I breathe a stronger concept of reality

Tragedy spoke to me in a voice only recognizable to my soul

I carry on tradition

For everybody who never got to be who they aspired to be

due to circumstances we see as society’s ills

Now I feel an obligation everybody don’t agree with

They’d rather be racing against the time reaching for "mine" meaning theirs

With no connection to the less fortunate of their peers

I can’t save them but I sure enough got a gift that can raise them

To a higher consciousness so they recognize the favor

Of a God who regardless of where you stand He’s pacing

Back and forth as that one blunt force formed for shaping

Greater trains of thought and action through passion and hard working

I was never perfect so who am I to stop searching for inspiration

Through observation of a world turning upside down

Through the rounds so many are found burning

Without direction they’re methods are off balance

Born a Libra so the sign of my zodiac keeps me acting on the scale

I seek truth and justice above everything

it really matters not to me whether its left or right wing

society lied so where does the question lie

Will I be reactive or proactive in terms of my life?

PoetryVote.com's First Contest Winning Poem: Nov. 2008

Gained Materials and Lost Values

We value cars more than sons
clothes more than daughters
We devalue morals
placing them in the category of the least important.

When they flash that screen everybody’s up close
Attention fully paid to the jaws of confusion
using us as the gas to fuel them
Those outlets pose more of a threat to us
than ever did music.

We value guns more than family
gold more than humanity
We devalue legacy, leaving behind red trails of sweat and tears in the community
Blasting through the waves is the perpetual motion of stereotypes
We promote competition but call it “beef”
We promote dysfunctional families but call it “drama”
We value fame over honor
ego over karma
vice over virtue
In the meantime time is not cooperating
We are stagnated
searching for the gas to fuel us
We’ve been siphoned out of even the fumes
that would lead us to the station of moral salvation
Instead we are driven by the few
to the situation room of nothing new

It ain’t no new thing
Black man shot down
50 bullets sound
and they blame 50 Cent for making the crime go round
It ain’t no new thing
Blame music for keeping the crime on the block
in Texas a cop got shot
they blamed Tupac
It ain’t no new thing
It’s just more of the same thing on different days

Indeed we must value sons more than cars and daughters more than clothes
Re-evaluate our morals, placing them in the category of most important
Value family more than guns and humanity more than gold
Re-evaluating our view on legacy and the greatness which we hold
Where we came from is certainly not where we are going
Times change and with time we adapt
but some things have to be maintained for us to last
That tradition of progressing through pain
That mission to raise these kids so they don’t breed the same
That perseverance through pressure
that tried to put us to shame
Rise as a flame
ignited by the passion for change
when we lose materials and values are gained.

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X

Many Moons

On my journey to the liberation of my mind
I find many with their eyes wide open are actually blind
but I decline passing judgment, all I can do is wonder
what’s the best approach I can take to put them under
my spell of dispelling stereotypes and fighting against odds
in an environment where simply living is a job
A 24/7 gig where the only benefits you get are innate
anything greater, the freedom in your mind has to take
never for granted, seeds of intelligence need to be planted
to fertilize the miinds of the youth with truth and understanding
with the time I use I simply intend to infuse
my interpretation of our situation into my children’s world view
So as the blind leads the blind through these troubling times
I refuse to have my freedom in a bind.

Through Regina’s Room is where the love rules supreme.

Regina's Room

Welcome

WACS Quote of the Moment

One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long.

W.E.B. Dubois

Share on Facebook

NEW JERSEY IS HOME

Upcoming Release Early 2010

WACS Publishing presents

Written Against Cultural Stagnation: Vol. 1 The Raised Curtain By: Anthony Pearson

The objective is to express my thoughts on a range of topics which I feel are relevant to our everyday lives in society through poetry and prose. This is my first published collection displayed in 48 pieces of poetic interpretation in 4 chapters.

I The Cause and the Affects

II The Ties that Bind

III The Ground is Shaking (but nothing is groundbreaking)

IIII The Race to 2008