To my wife Ni’Teesha
By Zachery Sminkey 

We sat and watched A Raisin in the Sun

Ruth announced what they fear is we’ll marry

At first I’m glad that now those times are done

More I think, the more my thoughts get dreary.

I hold my loves black hand in my white palm

I suppose what they had feared has come true

Since those that see us most times are calm

Does this mean that racism is now through?

People do not strike, scream, stare but they glance

Not overt they do it so we can’t see

They’ll be called racist they can’t take that chance

Mom even told Ni’ in secret don’t wed me.

Some may still fight us; this is not their life

Ni’Teesha, you will always be my wife

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!

Dianna Dragonetti

(Response to Harlem by Langston Hughes)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Can I describe with simply words

The intangible loss that must occur

When aspiration is demurred?

Does it become an orphaned child,

Unsung and shy–seen but unheard,

Or does it seek another’s wiles,

And take off, flitting, like a bird?

Does it disperse like urban soot,

Settling as grime on stagnant waters,

Or does it languish, underfoot,

Like petals, flora’s fallen daughters?

Does it burn and rise from the ash anew,

Or evaporate with morning’s dew?

Does it waft and fade like dimming light,

Or go, screaming, into the night?

But all comparisons aside,

Why must we have our dreams denied?

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!

As Dreams Kill – A Play
By Patrick Kelley

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!

By Karem  Mathiang
A poem from Momma’s perspective about her plant.

I’ve always wanted a garden, but I guess that’s asking for too much.

So instead I bought a seed, and it reminded me of how someone once told me that if you gave a plant a name it’ll learn to respond. And I don’t know if that’s true and I don’t really care if it is because my mother would always say that everyone needs something to believe in.

So I wonder if I told my plant to grow, would it resemble the picture that is painted in my dreams. Will it bare the weight of the crumbling world around me .

Will it stand tall on days when I forget what ambition looks like. Will it remind me that it doesn’t matter how thick the soil is, as long as you know where your roots are…

Or, will it ever actually grow?

If I called it Walter, will it remind me of the man that I’ve lost, if I wished hard enough will it grow large enough to shatter the floors of heaven so Walter Lee can  climb down and touch the stars that he couldn’t reach when he was alive will it ever be more than a dream deferred.

Maybe this plant will make up for all the lost moments…or maybe, maybe I’m asking for too much again.

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!

Dreams Deferred
By Vanessa Conde 

A dream is extremely fragile

It can be torn apart

It can shatter and fall

Or it can be a new start

You have to know how to express it

Because you can’t forget about a goal,

You can suppress it in your memory

But deep down it’ll be found in your soul

A dream deferred can’t be forgotten

It’s just locked up somewhere

We say we’ll initiate tomorrow

But we don’t realize if we put it off, we’ll get nowhere

A raisin in the sun is an example

If you take all their dreams that were dreamed

You’ll see they were put off,

And not one of them showed or gleamed

In their attempt to rise unto glory

A thing or two slipped

They let their dreams fade

Once they accidently tripped

That’s what happens to us too

We put aside what we want so badly

In fear it’ll never be accomplished

But as we pretend and nod gladly,

We don’t realize if we don’t try we won’t succeed

But not trying gives us a reason to fail

But our dreams don’t disappear

Due to the fact that they leave a trail

No matter how far we run to hide from it

It’ll always be by our side

It’ll follow us till the day we die

Unless we had really tried

Our dreams go in a little box

Locked up and saved for ourselves

They’re not for the world to see

And are put on the shelves

Our dreams hover around us

And shout till they are recognized

But we look past them

So we aren’t agonized

Our dreams are swept under the carpet

They accumulate particles of dust

And we leave them there hidden from the eye of company

Because we’re unsure of whom we can trust

There are those who pretend they don’t dream

Due to their countless insecurity

They refuse to reveal their wishes

And leave us with curiosity

I guess we can’t truly say what happens to dreams deferred

It’s different for everyone

It’s really a mystery whether we like it or not

It depends if the battle of dreaming is lost or won

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!

Follow Your Dream
By David Kurkowski

You can also listen to this song on YouTube 

This is a finalist in our A Raisin in the Sun Creative Response Contest. From April 17-19 you can visit our Facebook page to vote for this entry to win our grand prize!