Who Says All the Great Poets are Dead?
Someone who obviously has not been in the 10th grade English class at The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem.
This site represents the works of over 50 underrepresented poets. Three of them have been widely published and widely read for decades. They are poets whose simple yet beautiful words pierce the very core of our souls, inspiring even the most adamant anti-poet to put emotions on paper.
The other 50 poets are teenagers who became the students of these great wordsmiths: Lucille Clifton, E. Ethelbert Miller and Pablo Neruda. After reading these poets’ work, these 10th grade students wrote their own poems. They, and their teacher, submit this site as homage to Clifton, Miller and Neruda.
This site is also a celebration of the creative brilliance of the teenaged poets whose work appears under the names of their real poetry teachers.
Poets Inspired By Poets 
Every morning
i look for you.
I search for your warmth,
Your lingering smell.
Every morning
i look for you.
Forgetting that you left,
recalling the memories that are now
slowly fading away.
Every morning
i look for you.
Wanting you by my side
remembering your every move.
Every morning
i look for you.
but i never seem to find you.
Oh how every morning,
i look for you.
-Christina Ganpath
My heart has a story
When it comes to you
It’s simply too complicated to understand
We laugh
Later I cry
Mostly waiting when it comes to us.
I do not love how you were there but weren’t
I do not love how I try but you don’t
I do love how you left and made me stronger
I do not love how you left
In this part of the story I am the one who dies.
-Arelis Cruz
tomorrow is a bran new day
to take in something
new
to just go out there
and give it a try
it’s a new day to strive
and try
to experience something
new
to bring back and share
something
and tell every what you did
tomorrow is a new day
to look forward to
because once it’s gone
it wont come back again
-kiani
I love you so much
that I can’t put it into words
You’ve made my life so interesting.
I can’t image a day without you
Your strong arms holding me
Your lips kissing mine
And the sound of your voice saying
I love you.
Your the love of my life
and that’s the truth.
Cause no one else makes me feel this way
the way you do.
I love you so much
that I can’t put it into words
You’ve made my life so interesting.
I can’t image a day without you
Your strong arms holding me
Your lips kissing mine
And the sound of your voice saying
I love you.
Your the love of my life
and that’s the truth.
Cause no one else makes me feel this way
the way you do.
– Brittany Molina
Never by Ama Gyamerah
I am not jealous of what came before me
But I am jealous of what comes after
Always there for you
But NEVER are you there for me
You won’t find someone as good as me
And the sad thing is . . .
You KNOW that
Yet you keep me waiting
Past a year span.
And I am so foolish to stay there waiting
I’m tired.
I’m really freaking tired.
Always is me there
Always is my comfort for you
Always give you what you want
Never there are you
Never is your comfort for me
Never give me what I want.
The world does not revolve around you
I think the world is tired of you.
I can’t stand how much I love you
It’s so sickening
Never did I want this
Never did I ask for this
My feelings are controlling me
And I just can’t stop
I won’t stop.
Never did I ever stop
Always wanted to stop
You don’t want me to stop
But, in this case, stop means go.
So I guess
always,
Means never.
Dear Dad,
I used to sit up and cry just wondering why you left.
I’d ask God what did I do to deserve this? Long nights
alone, only one parent in this home struggling to feed us both. Heartlessly
you move on with out looking back while I was still stuck in the past.
One day it dawned on me that I wanted to be free and no longer a slave to your
lies and games. Thank you for helping me see how hateful people can be so I can
make myself better than you. Let the love flow and let the hate go and I’m
prepared to fight this up hill battle.
Now the tears have dried and I’m done with the lies, so much
stronger I have become.
-Brehona McMillion
I scream for help
But no one is there
I’m all alone
I only hear stillness
How can this be
Will someone please
Please come and save me
Remind me again how beautiful you are.
behind that mean face there’s a beautiful heart
no matter what you stay strong and keep moving forward.
Remind me again how beautiful you are,
for always keeping me by your side and pushing me to do my best.
Also for teaching me wrong from right.
Remind me again how beautiful you are for being my mother and the one
person i can turn to when i feel like there is no way out.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
As you watch me sleep a lot of things go through your mind,
You begin to think how much i really mean to you
And how much your life has changed since you met me.
As you watch me sleep you remember everything we’ve been through
and how stronger we are getting.
although we are both afraid to realize whats really happening,
we know we wont be able to let go anymore.
And as i open my eyes and see you smile,
i realize that the biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
These are beautifully written! Excellent work! It’s crazy how I really felt the emotions within each one.
What beautifully written sentiments. Keep on writing – these are wonderful!