Magnolia Literacy Project Spotlight: Lana Brown Series
During unprecedented times, turmoil, loss of life, pain, and trauma are everyday realities. Poet, Lana Brown, expresses sentiments shared by many.
Brown is a graduate of Alcorn State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Communications; a Master of Arts in Secondary English Education; and a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education with a Concentration in Reading and Gifted Education. She also holds a Specialist in Education degree in Psychometry from Jackson State University. An instructor in gifted education with the Natchez Adams School District, Brown was selected by the Mississippi Department of Education to be a member of the ELA/Literacy High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) Review Team in the fall of 2020.
"The World Is So Far Gone"
A President can belittle his citizens
yet gain the accolades of millions
who throw caution and common sense to the wind
and trample, violently around democratic monuments
mocking centuries of moral values, standards out the window
vowing their allegiance to the Man, not the country
Sad that – the same one
who claims he was stolen from
but never producing the thief, an incident report, or a viable witness
refusing to accept it never happened
wasting much time on the tomfoolery.
It's the norm to see long lines of people
anxiously waiting for handouts
Nice cars, nice people being led to the slaughter house
Jobs sucked up into the atmosphere
Never to return
Thousands of bodies of people of ALL ages
who can’t breathe
Piled up in freight trucks
to be thrown into a hole in the ground
Regularly, seeing little brown boys
Lying in the streets morbidly
Gone forever
Throw a few dollars and flowers at the family
and keep it moving
Got to make room in my heart
for the massacre of another one
No time to mourn or remember
Memories blurred anyway
Might be a good thing
Methodically, performing a routine
Processing time all out of whack
Hearing Bad news ALL the time
New strand over here, over there
Just everywhere
Start to really dislike those origin countries
and everything in them.
Somebody killed a baby
Senseless stuff
As if there's not enough killing going on
OUTSIDE the house.
Trust is rarely seen
Empathy?
Everyone's at war with somebody
over something
Every second, minute, hour of the day
One would ponder....
"Where is Jesus?"
Rhetorical Question
Good response being:
"Thought you was supposed to get right
when I left last time?"
Well, Mr. Savior, "You see what happened was...."
Down falls the gavel
That Save is unrelenting
Everything that we were baptized and christened by
Gone in a poof of smoke
Been rejected as a notion so long ago that
the Family Tree don't remember.
Seeing the global tragedy that has devastated the world
Singed the entire outer crust
Just might be the spark
illuminating the path leading back to sanity
reflecting on the root of the problem
eliminating opportunities for digression
Casting the Fake Messiahs aside
Give back the membership card
It only represented ONE person anyway
Mentally, step away from the crowd
move in the opposite direction
Following the Inside Leader
Then Perhaps
Sunnier Days
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