Discovering Your Destiny

By Carla TaylorSIUC & LOC Lesson PlanMAT of Education-EDU 550

Langston Hughes1902-1967I, too, sing

America

I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,But I laugh,

And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I'll sit at the table

When company comes.Nobody'll dare

Say to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed,--I, too, am America.

Maya Angelou1928-

Still I Rise

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your

hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shameI rise

Up from a past that's rooted in painI rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously

clearI rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I riseI rise

I rise.

Luis Rodriguez1954-

They are night shadowsviolating borders;

fingers curled through chain-link fences,hiding from infra-red eyes,

dodging 30-30 bullets.They leave familiar smells,

warmth and soundsas ancient

as the trampled stones.

Running to America.

There is a womanin her finest

border-crossing wear:A purple blouse from

an older sister, a pair of wornshoes from a church bazaar.

A tattered coat from a former lover.

There is a childdressed in black.

Fear sparkling fromdark Indians eyes;

clinging toa beheaded Barbie doll.

And the men,some hardened, quiet.

Others young and loud.You see something like this

in prisons.

Soon they will crosson their bellies; kissing

black earth.

Running to America.

Strange voiceswhisper behind garbage cans,

beneath freeway passes,next to broken bottles.

The spatter of words,textured and multi-colored,

invoke demons.

They must run to America.

Their skin,color of earth,

is a brandfor all the great ranchers,

for the killing floorson Soto Street,

and as slaughterfor the garment row.

Still they come.A hungry peoplehave no country.

Their tearsare the grease

of the bobbing machinesthat rip into cloth

that makes clothesthat keep you warm.

They have enduredthe sun's stranglehold,

el corrito,foundry heats

and dark cavesof mines

hungry for men.

Still they come,wandering bravely

through the thicknessof this strange land's

maddening ambivalence.

Their cries are singedwith fires of hope.

Their babies are bornwith a lion

in their hearts.Who can confine them?

Who can tell themwhich lines never to cross?

For the green rivers,for their looted gold,

escaping the blood of a landthat threatens to drown them,

they have come,running to America.

Running to America

Eminem1972-

Lose Yourself

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There is vomit on his sweater already, moms spaghetti He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and

readyTo drops bombs, but he keeps on forgetting

What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loudHe opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's choking, how? Everybody's joking nowThe clock's run out, time's up, over BLOW!

He's so mad, but he won't give up that easy, no he won't have it

He knows his whole back's to these ropesIt don't matter, he's dope

He knows that, but he's broke, He's so sad that he knows

When he goes back to this mobile homeThat's when it's back to the lab again, yo

This whole rhapsody, better go capture this moment And hope it don't collapse on him

You better lose yourself in the musicThe moment you own it you better never let it go,

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blowThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo.

TuPac Shakur1971-1996

In the event of my Demise when my heart can beat no more

I Hope I Die For A Principle or A Belief that I had Lived 4

I will die Before My Time Because I feel the shadow's

Depth so much I wanted 2 accomplish

before I reached my Death I have come 2 grips with the

possibility and wiped the last tear from My

eyes I Loved All who were Positive

In the event of my Demise

In the Event of My Demise