Poetry: Six Minutes Nineteen on 6/19 by R.D. Johnson

Juneteenth Poem – Six Minutes Nineteen on 6/19

Here we are 
I began curating this poem
Six minutes 19 seconds in
To what has become a national holiday
Just two years ago
Two years ago it took a bunch of pain
And senselessness
For us to bring to the fore front
A moment in history that happened years ago
To become relevant in everyone’s mind
We needed it to become Americanized 
For the select few to humanize themselves
And go back read about the events that took place on this day in 1865
But no, I’ve seen it all
The decorations
The attempts at change
The celebrations
All taking place within a world so broken
Yes the steps are taken but look at one’s feet
To see the cracked ground that the now enlightened walk upon
The fragility of it all
It’s looking like 2020 Part 2
Shackles still remain just a little loosened
That’s because more and more people continue to be shackled in their own way
So have your parties
Have your events 
Have your jubilations
Just make sure that learning is taking place 
In the end we just want understanding
We can’t change the past
And the future is never promised
So make the change in the present



Bio: Follow R.D. Johnson on twitter @r_d_Johnson                                                                                     R.D. Johnson is a pushcart nominee, a best of the net nominee for Fevers of the Mind  "(Not Just On) Juneteenth"    Reggie is an author reigning out of Cincinnati, Ohio. At the age of 9, he found a love for writing while on summer vacation. With influences from music, Reggie has created a rhythmic style of writing to tell his personal experiences and beyond.  Reggie has several books available on all major online retailers and his work can be seen in various literary magazines. He currently has two columns, Drunken Karaoke featured on Daily Drunk Magazine & REPLAYS featured on The Poetry Question. https://thepoetryquestion.com/category/replay-rdj/      

https://feversofthemind.com/2022/06/17/poetry-by-r-d-johnson-not-just-on-juneteenth/

https://feversofthemind.com/2021/02/17/4-poems-by-r-d-johnson-malcolm-martin-angels-dr-kings-dream-february-1st/

https://feversofthemind.com/2021/07/26/a-review-from-thank-you-for-the-content-iii-by-r-d-johnson-reggie-d-johnson/


Juneteenth Morning by Maggs Vibo

Juneteenth Morning

I slept
wet, drenched, dripping
splashed into a pool of hot water
boiling
Had to feel the bubbles
rising
from the bottom
hot waterbed
head towards
‘A look’ but not the sense to know
slow dreams
(on my own) clock
stop time
not wrinkles or
Father Time, but appreciation
(these words are mine)
I’ve learned enough to know
Jack Crap
and that’s a fact
check these turning words into
Poetry…give thanks and glory
to Hughes, Angelou and Gorman
for this

Bio: Margaret Viboolsittiseri (aka Maggs Vibo) works in print, broadcast, special events, glitch media, and online. She is a contributor for Poem Atlas and has experimental art in the winnow
magazine, Coven Poetry, Ice Floe Press, The Babel Tower Notice Board, ang(st), The Wombwell Rainbow. Recent anthologies include Poem Atlas ‘aww-struck’, Steel Incisors, Fevers of the
Mind Press Presents the Poets of 2020 (January, 2021) and ‘My teeth don’t chew on shrapnel’: an anthology of poetry by military veterans (Oxford Brookes, 2020). She tweets @maggsvibo
and her website is https://www.maggsvibo.com/