Slavery Poems | Examples

That same, old kind of line blurs

Where does capital end

and mere terrorism begin

Premium Member Absolute Rule

untamed masters, tame
their subjects, until they're tame 
enough to follow.
Form: Haiku


Life

#Life
Tour of trials and hostility, in this cave, life capture's my soul, hell prey's for my flesh, indoctrination waits in ambush for my mental GPS. With this God DIY tools, equiped to unearth parth's long consumed by creation and evolution...

from four cardinals of earth, horns of wisdom positions distressed and discareded abilities of mother nature. Waterfall's bearing rebirth, cleansing drained long extinct men conscience...

from under earth plates, smokes with insence, awakening purities long  ingraved in packages of human descendency to life. Hijacked dreams and hopes of child's maps of earth, peals from bondages of captivity and brainwash...

The world, for the first time, wows and collides with rage, for denied and amputated abilities, that earth stole from genesis. Rise of greatness, beyond wisdom and intelligency, degenaration in every hole and pores of earth and men, here and there pillars of change, marking the begining of magnitude.
#Poetic_Ink

Villanelle: A Serious Matter

"A Serious Matter" is a free-verse-ish or "loose" villanelle.

A Serious Matter
by Michael R. Burch

Listen, love, it’s a serious matter:
I love you better despite the fetter.
I love you madder than any hatter.

Now even though you’re my chains’ begetter
and keep me your slave with that braless sweater,
I love you better despite the fetter.

You say you’re afraid that you’re getting “fatter,”
but your curves are my lust’s prime aider and abettor. 
Listen, love, it’s a serious matter.

I love you madder than any hatter.

When you come to bed in sheer lace, my thoughts scatter:
first to the firmer, then to the latter. 

I love you better despite the fetter.
I love you madder than any hatter.
Listen, love, it’s a serious matter!

Keywords/Tags: villanelle, love, love hurts, mad, madness, slave, slavery, lust, passion, desire, curves, lace, bed, chain, chains, fetter, fetters, ties that bind, mad hatter, madder than a hatter

Premium Member Did You Cry for Me? Note to a Sharecropper

Did you cry for me
when none but the crows
was both black and free
in yon cotton rows?

When you saw me hung
did you cry for me
as my body swung 
'neath the lynchin' tree?

Such prosperity
must taste mighty sweet
Did you cry for me
when I didn't eat?

Heard you gone some years,
died in poverty
and I cried no tears

Did you cry for me?
Form: Quatern


Human Speech versus Business Prison

Begin at treason acts of non allegiance 
Human Speech 
Business license is created to take from human voluntarily
Or otherwise 
Advertising is not free speech
Use of surplus against legislation 
Fraudulent bypass of poverty laws
Document theft from slaves
Slavery Acts

Calls from the job you needed
Connecting without the shove
Turning down the press
Finishing the letters in the heart shaped box
Quiting going to work
Letting yourself run out of money
Getting yourself back

Strapped

strapped to a chair while wires
pierced my skin, tested my knowledge 
Will this ever end? Come forth not 
My tongue tells all lies, as it splits
down the middle towards your
demise.


My eyes turned black my skin crawling 
With fear,  as my speech comes out
I feel endless fear. strap me down as
The room shakes, come forth as my
Shackles come off I'm going to my
happy place.
Form: Rhyme

The tomb of a boy unknown

Unmarked grave
Epigraph reads slave
Not even dignified with a name
Just a ghost of a boy surrounded 
By tombs of those known
Tombs of those never alone
In a cemetery full of strangers
Even in death he is separated from his family

Who was he?
The world may never know 
His body buried just like his story unknown
He was born into shackles 
And died in them
He never got to taste the sweetness of freedom 
Even in death, even in the afterlife
He will always be known 
Through only his skin colour 

We will never fully know will we?

An atheist on his deathbed

An atheist living soul was floating above on  deathbed,
because if he touched it, he would leave this world.

He let the pain out and screamed through his dying soul.

A guy who was once drenched in every bit of gold
comes to him and says:
“I want to make a compromise with your soul and body—
I will save you, but for the rest of your life,
you have to serve me.”

But then suddenly the man who created every bit of the universe
comes to him and says:
“I will save you, but for the rest of your life,
you have to believe I am real.”

Then the living soul thought:
It’s no different. Both are slavery,
but in different ways.

But he thought,
since he questioned God in the life he lived before,
he would face judgment for that.
Either way, he was going to hell.

He was thinking of every possible possibility
that would grant him some life.

But he died in his imagination while sleeping.

– THEBLOODYPEN
Form: Narrative

Premium Member STANCE AT GETTYSBURG

Shenandoah cries
Voice of a Leader
Echoes of a Nation
Tomorrow only the beginning
The change needing a change
Soulful hope
Skies above in realize
Direction from Heaven
White House woes
Freedom, Wisdom and Rise
Bitterness through emotion
Far from the Liberty shores
Darkness plight
Wonder of the day, and the offspring of thought
Turnaround to oppose
No Slave shall be
Rebel no more
Freedom ways
Impact says
Pathway to a better life
No more demands
Freedom by order and command
Honor and Leverage
Proclamation and Freedom is now a privilege.

A child's first lynching

Dressed in their Sunday best
Toothy grins
Pristine shoes
Eyes sparkling with joy
A simple family picture
The epitome of innocence 
'Spick and span' as they would say

A nice family outing
Where you ask?
Church?
A family picnic?
Day trip?
No.

They dressed up in their Sunday best
To watch a black man succumb to a slow and labored death
To watch his long drawn out last breath
The slowed movement of his chest
Giggling as the now still mans body stops all movement
They await their turn to take picture 
A forever reminder of their first lynching

The missing posters that go missing

Streets littered with white paper sheets
Printed with the ink of black missing kids
Floating through the air desperate to find somebody who cares
Empty are the streets, just like their parents home
Awaiting the day they'll be reunited with their beloved children 

Authorities won't listen
Not one eye lid batted
They look the black parents in the eye feeling joy from their sadness 
And as cold as ice say their kids disappearance doesn't matter
They claim they've probably run away 
That attention is what they want 
So they won't feed into their kids 'temper tantrum'
Then to sprinkle salt into the wound 
They claim the town has been much quieter 
I didn't know that it was a crime for children to play
But then again when you're a black kid innocence doesn't really matter

Last week they stated BLACK LIVES MATTER 
Then again it would be naive to believe 
That a system built after slavery
Would care to 'serve and protect' black people
Maybe there is a reason to their indifference 
Their ability to lack sympathy
Maybe just maybe 
They're the reason the black kids went missing

What's left when there is nothing left

The stench of shame fills the air
Tears fallen choked her words
Laying in a pool of red
Her massa had stolen her innocence 
Bruises decorated her already scarred flesh
A mark of ownership

A sinister smirk sends shivers
As the white man admires his coloured canvas
Pride engulfs him
Watching her struggle against the shackles
Her screams silenced by his hands around her neck
As he brutally ravages her again and again

He whips his initials onto her untouched back
As a reminder that he also owns her flesh
She had no autonomy left
Her insides felt dirty, poisoned by the white man's lack of mercy 
With every violation her grip on hope was slipping
Until she fell into a numbness unending

A shell of who she was
She was forced into a life of silence 
Held captive by the punishment of violence 
That day a lesson was taught on how to live a life on mute

History doesn't matter if its aesthetic

Hot summers dry up the land 
The dirt crumbles under the heaviness of disrespect
Fresh flowers adorn the land 
Covering the uneven burial grounds 
Overshadowed by privilege 

What better way to claim superiority 
By soiling the plantation they stand on
Ignorance crowds the air 
Cast aside by vows of love 
Tainting history with a wedding
The stories of black labour whitewashed into a picture of a bride in white
Covering the truths in a veil of fragility
Ironic how they use the innocence of a white wedding 
To ink over history 

A picture is worth a thousand words
A simple picture of a now conjoined family
Haunted by secrets of ownership
How the brides grandmother was once a girl
Who stood on this same plantation
Watching her parents become slave owners 
A simple picture
Once innocent becomes a sinister backstory
A history haunted by the darkness of whiteness

Flower petals spread across the venue of black bones
Not to pay respect to those buried
But to honour love consummated on the grounds of black history 
Smiling in pictures with a tainted memory 
Plastered in magazines profiting off of slavery 
But hey at least they gained popularity

The chains are still there you've just got to look closer

Stalked all their life 
Stained by a crime not committed 
A permanent mark on black skin
A reminder how we will never fit in
Labelled as criminals
Despite being exonerated 

Probation was for those in need of reformation 
Not those who already good behaviour 
But any chance to stereotype 
The oppressors will take their chance
To keep the invisible chains of oppression are locked in and secured
A way to surveil those who now walk in the light
Constant checkups, now a normal routine
Having to ensure their record is squeaky clean
Being suffocated by the fear
Of breathing wrong
They'll do anything to keep us behind bars
Freedom they promised, yet freedom we haven't received 
Being watched doesn't equate to being free
Especially when we still hang from the trees of your critique 

You can't claim slavery ended when we are still slaves to your constant surveillance 
Not when incarceration is used as a way to keep us hidden
Not when we live a life of normalcy
Yet are still followed
By the law that claims to help
Yet shoots us as soon as we open our mouth
You can't claim it ended when we live under the power
Of the white man

Specific Types of Slavery Poems

Definition | What is Slavery in Poetry?

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter