Ten Points to Consider Before You Sign
a Military Enlistment Agreement

by Rayniel

Think about ya life, the choices you make. Recruiters out to get you, don’t make a mistake.

Is obvious right, they target the hood. Take a home boy and write, what’s wrong and what’s good.

My words are truth, heal like medicine, don’t believe me? Man, holla at a veteran.

It’ll be better then, the words I write. Do you really see a cause for these wars we fight?

Aaight if not then free your mind, focus on the prints, read between the lines.

Times after time, is harder than the lottery, to see one of us not become their property.

Probably you’ll get many promises but don’t leave it for later, get on your grind, get it all on paper.

Now Do You Wanna R.I.P., Rayniel from N.Y.C. telling you there’s no guarantee… J.O.B.

You have no clue. This is for the ones who keep it real in the military, you can’t be you.

So think, listen and see. Is a puppet to America really “all you can be…

Peace.... Rayniel

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The Winner Of The New York Veterans Speak Out Against War Poetry / Spoken Word Contest - $500 for College

In the Eyes

Aneka Hewitt

High School For Global Citizenhip - Prospect Hts., Brooklyn

In the eyes of a different nation...
In the eyes of a different color...
In the eyes of another man, woman, or child,
There holds a deep sorrow of the sights they’ve seen
So numb, they are oblivious to the numbness

They become lost.
The pain takes away the hope.
Like a light fixed on a portrait
That slowly eats away at its color

The memories never stop.
They seem to be in their dreams
And even as they blink,
The illusions chase their courage

The things they’ve done
The lies they’ve told
The lives they’ve taken

The only movement is into a shell
The epitome of madness
What they’ve left behind
They can no longer find
What is left if the darkness
Perfect conditions to manifest fears

The brother that went in with them,
But failed to come back
The worthlessness of the cause,
The pain they’ve dealt,
The questions yet to be answered

The Eyes of… them,
They envy.
Who play men like pawns and knights
Protect thy King!
Or thy Kings falsity, more like.
It is all that matters

The never-ending mental and physical battle
Who are you to take a life that does not belong to you?
Are you a thief? A Beggar? A Fool?
You’ve been lured into a ditch
Much too deep to climb

Right in front of their eyes, you are.
Yet you are invisible.
They cannot see.....

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Judges:

Sekyiwa Shakur and Jamala Lesane (Atlanta)

Ernie Paniccioli and Lew Gruper (NYC)