For Kalief

The message of my poem is about Kalief  Browder, and how the justice system and prison system treated him. Kalief Browder was a 16 year old boy that got arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and spent three years prison. He was also beaten and put into solitary confinement for two of the years he was in prison. My poem begins by talking about the promises that the police swear by when they start as policemen. When I state the lines of “deception and protection are different words, brutality and self defense is the game”  In my poem I used the word “slithering” which is onomatopoeia this word is shown in the line “slithering closer and closer to my street are the men in blue. I used this word because it is a way to describe how the police try to sneak to his house to arrest Kalief. I use several similes in my poem for example I compared the way that the police come in his house to they way that the police entered the leader of the black panthers Home Fred Hampton. In the line “Busting down my door like I'm a black panther, Hampton”. I used the device of repetition by repeating the line again throughout my poem. I have metaphors in my poem I compare prison to hell in the line “Entering a place that must be worse than hell". I used imagery throughout my poem in the line “White walls all around me not a gleam of light exists here”. When performing my poem I used diction in certain words as well as pitch when I say the line again I get louder try to emphasize the word as well as when I start the poem. I said red ,white and blue in a soft an clear tone trying to show the importance of the colors. I Make eye contact throughout the poem. While making this poem, I discovered that It was very hard to talk about just one topic since there are so many that I wanted to discuss. I also know that as a person, I don't like to ask for help and me having to ask my teachers for feed back made it really difficult. I also would get confused when asking my two teachers because they each would say different things about the poem in the same line. One would think it was good the other wouldn't. I eventually would just try to please both of them by adding or taking away certain lines of my poem.


Flashes of Red, White and Blue
Their commitment to patriotism
“To serve and protect”
Deception and protection are different words
Brutality and self defense is the game
Power is our gain
Again,

Slithering closer and closer to my street are the men in blue
blue tears down my solitude
Busting down my door like im a black panther, Hampton

Again.
I am now bound to my fate
Silver shackles, shining like the moon a vibrant color of glowing white like it glows in the dark.
The cries of my mother vibrate through my body, not warning of the torture that will soon come.
My is skin deep like the color of coffee, It is deep like the roots of my ancestors that helped to build the world from the ground up.

Dark brown eyes, That entice you.
I have a face that will make you think I can’t hurt a fly
I am Kalief Browder, I am 16 years old.

Again,
I feel the sting of the whip, my goosebumps flinch
Sharp pain, it courses through my body
Making me feel the hard ground even more
battered and defeated
Prom and graduation is a fading dream, colors of blue and red lights

Again,

I plead guilty
Knowing I have no chance, no money for defense.
the cuffs are tight around my wrist
Entering a place that must be worse than hell
The cold metal bars against my skin

You make a decision
Guilty or not guilty
My decision was taken from me
The justice system failed me
The prison system stays the same
Full and accepting more
Justice system stays the same
Slow and never growing



Again,

White walls all around me not a gleam of light exists here
Central park is no longer apart of my memories
“ Protect all and serve all” in my nightmares
3 years of prolonged darkness echoes
Delayed and delayed by the “Justice System”
I received no justice
Justice didn't receive me

Again,

Home doesn’t feel the same when I return
I try to smile and bear it but end up wearing it the pain that won’t go away
One day I just decide to let go, the pain goes away as my name fades away
My mom joins me a year later
Happy to see me again