The following poem was written as a part of my mentoring position in Pongo Poetry Project’s King County Juvenile Detention Center. Each week in preparation for working with students in juvenile detention, mentors write a poem inspired by a specific theme. The week of January 17th we wrote along the theme of Civil Disobedience, I shared the poem as apart of the poetry project and after writing several articles as a part of the Black History Month Series, this poem is a perfect embodiment of civil disobedience as apart of Black History.
The Gift of Civil Disobedience
To disobey civilly
Is to listen to the force within me
To hear the voice
That says please
Stand up, fight
and dissolve your fear with ease
To disobey civilly
Is to let the spirits guide my feet
Ancestors whose souls breath
into me
courage and bravery
To disobey civilly
Is to care less about
What challenges face me
To exit the limits
of law’s boundaries
To drop my stress
and walk into this test fearlessly
To disobey civilly
Is to honor the lives
Of those before me
To respect the battles
That were fought
For my peace
To continue for those
That will follow my lead
To disobey civilly
Is to know that death
Is waiting for me
So while I wait
I must break
The rules of this dark place
And accept my bright fate