Analysis of Black
Raheem Muhammad 1964 (Alabama)
The essence… and out of it, “Let there be light,”
Colorlessness and of what all colors come from.
Why are the strong minority afraid of the night?
How powerful is nothing compared to the Sun?
Knowledge evolved and comes from ignorance,
Like a child releases the breast of his mother.
Growing into manhood by taking in substance,
Becoming God like in such a way like no other.
They wonder why I did them, the crimes…
Not seeing how everything’s twisted and behind,
But insanely programmed I’ve admitted, my mind…
By their oppressiveness and wickedly lying.
Look at all that’s surrounding you, it’s easy,
And focus on America’s Black youth, you’ll see,
The pain they’ve caused to be so blue, in me,
I just wanted just-us, equality too, be free.
They look at me and are quick to judge, so wrong,
How about the mirror, expression, grudge, face gone,
Shows you my face of dark brown fudge, so strong,
And because of that they can’t even hug, I moan.
Pains… in me from centuries ago, by them deployed,
To a boy and now a man you know, almost destroyed,
Drugs… yours altering me -to and fro- as if to deploy,
But out of it the Most High grows, into ever loving joy.
Once nothing, now something… Black.
Scheme | ABACDEDEFGGHIIIIJKJLMMNNO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01001111111 101111011 1101010001101 110011001101 1001011100 101010011110 10011110010 0101101011110 110111101 11011010001 111101011 111010010 11110101110 010101001111 0111111101 1110110100111 11110111111 101010010111 1111111111 001111110111 1011100011101 101010111101 11100110111101 111101110110101 1101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,226 |
Words | 238 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 25 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 919 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 216 |
About this poem
The essence… and out of it, “Let there be light,” Colorlessness and of what all colors come from.
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"Black" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/131028/black>.
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