They gave me my false identity
when I heard them say
It is a girl
She got pretty hair
She is red
Look at her hands
She go be light

Once I entered this confused and crazy world
my false identity continued to be defined by others
and forced upon me

She so pretty
She sickly
She can’t do nothing
She ain’t no good

When I was nine years old I learned segregation
Until then I played with the overseer’s little boy who was my age
When he stopped coming to play with me
I asked my grand mama why
She told me
Cause you is “black”
And he is “white”

I firmly told my grand mama that
He waln’t (wasn’t) “white”
And I waln’t (wasn’t) “Black

That was the day I started
seeing the world in black and white
complex, complicated, and difficult to understand

Thanks to Barack Obama
For changing how I see the world

When I first heard that we had a “black” president
My response was

A black president
I don’t believe it
Is it true or am I dreaming

After taking a good look at Barack Obama
I see that he is not “black”
He is an inspired man
He is a wise man
He is a just man
He has no race
He is just in his rightful place
Trying to make the world a better place

When I look at the world
I no longer see black and white
Barack Obama taught me to be
I see the world in living color!!!

I HAVE TO GO SOME PLACE!!!

Today I have to go some place
I will take any help that I can
as long as it is not a sin

I don’t know what’s there until I get there
All I know is that I have got to get there

I will ride on the back of anything that has four legs and more
All I know is that I have some place to go

I will fly on the wrings of anything that has wings

I will ride the waves of the ocean
I will float across the sea on the leaf of a fig tree
I will walk across a swift and angry river
It’s the waters and me

I will travel on the win of a hurricane
I will get all shook-up by an earthquake
I will fly on an airplane filled with poisonous snakes
I will take one step across a lake
I will discover a lost world

On the way to where I am going I will spend a week in the belly of a whale
I will tare down the walls of many jails
No matter what I am going to get where I have to go
I will get evicted from my home and live in the street
I will wade in DO-DO a foot deep
I am braking free from all those strings that binds me

No matter what I am going to get where I have to go
I will weather the storm
Good By, I am gone

"DETERMINATION"

As I have no paint, only the little bits in the bottoms of the bottles I have used up. I am determine to not feel sorry for myself. I am determine to paint this night, this hour, right now! It is like the cigarettes ends or buts I use to see the poor blacks smoking. I remember watching the poor blacks trying to get those spider webs (the end of the corn liquor left in the bottles). They held their head back as far as it would go as they consumed that last drop. I know what it feels like to be a poor black woman. And that is bad enough. But I am blessed to experience what my young black children and all people must feel who has no hope. My heart goes out to them. And for some reason that I cannot put into words, I feel especially related to young black males. I wish I could share what I experience with all those who feel hopeless. I don’t have the proper materials and tools to work with but I am determine to paint this night, right now! I will paint even if I have to use by blood! I am going to take these leftovers and I am going to paint myself a picture no matter what! And it will be beautiful in its own way. I’ll call it “DETERMINE.” This is what I felt while painting “DETERMINATION” It is like wanting to make love and you ain’t got no mate Like wanting it now but told you have got to wait Like wanting to take a bath but you ain’t got no soap It is like wanting to get high but you don’t want to use no dope How am I to live like this? I just can’t! I didn’t ask for much, just a few bottles of paint. Circumstances may keep me from doing exactly what I want to do. But absolutely nothing can keep me from using my imagination! Nothing or no one can stop me from using my mind! After I finished and looked at the painting I felt very strange. And I said to myself: Circumstances and situations in my life has only forced me to be creative. What would be so great about it if I had not been forced to use my mind?

"DETERMINATION"

"HOPE"

Today someone step up to oppress me
And I saw Obama’s face
It was not black, it was not white
It was not brown, red, or yellow
It was not any color
His face looked like HOPE to me
His beautiful face reminds me of a little story I wrote about 15 years ago:

"HOPE" Once there was a beautiful Queen who was taken away from her world of many beautiful colors
The Queen was forced to live in a black and white world
The Queen was very unhappy. She cried every day and every night.
The Queen hated living in a black and white world.
She even cried black and white tears.

Then one day the Queen cried a bright red tear.

The tear couldn’t be wiped off her face.
And the tear wouldn’t dry up.
One morning the Queen woke up and the bright red tear had turned into a beautiful little princess [prince].
The Queen was so very happy.

The Queen named her little princess [prince] “HOPE”
because she hoped that the little princess [prince]
would not have to live in a black and white world.

As the little princess [prince] grew
the Queen told her [him] about the world of many beautiful colors.
The Queen told the little princess [prince] about a world
filled with colors like a rainbow after a storm.

Every time “HOPE” saw many colors together like a rainbow,
she thought it was the world her [his] mother had told her about.
“HOPE” was happy until the world of many colors,
like a rainbow told her that the color “BLACK”
did not belong in the rainbow.

But “HOPE” would not listen.
She refused to live in a black and white world.
She was determine to be part of a world of many colors.

Everyone became angry with “HOPE.”
She [he] was treated unkind and unfair
because she [he] wanted to be part of the rainbow of many colors.

One day the Creator of the rainbow came for a visit.
“HOPE” asked him why didn’t He make her [him] part of the rainbow.
He told her [him] that he did make her part of the rainbow.
He told her she was the black pot filled with gold at the end of the rainbow,
but only very special people with very special eyes
can see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

CAN YOU SEE HOPE???????????????????????

"JIM CROW"

In so many ways you tried to hold me down
You beat me, you abused me
And I couldn’t even say one word“SHUT UP”

You nailed me down
You shot arrows in me from every side
I cried a “RIVER OF BLOODY TEARS”

Every time I tried to get help
You told me I didn’t qualify

I applied for a job
You told me I didn’t qualify
I applied for welfare
You said I didn’t qualify
I applied for food stamps You tried every trick in the book
to get me to give up my dignity

You said to me
“GIVE UP YOU CAN’T WIN!

But I said: NO!!!

I came out fighting like a
THREE HEADED FOOL

I have been made wise
Wisdom has “EMPOWERED” me

Don’t let the oppressor mess with your mind
He is a lie, in him there can be no truth found

Let us dig a hole in the ground
Let us bury the oppressor’s lies
So that the generations to come
will never have to know his lies

RETURN TO INDEX

ALL WORKS IN THIS WEBSITE ARE THE CREATIONS OF ROSEMARY OLLISON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED