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Let Us Vent Poetry Contest Winners - 2022

It's a part of the I Am Root mission to stay engaged with writers of all walks, and our contests have been a great way to celebrate and connect with more writers.


Here are the winners for this season's Let Us Vent Poetry contest, aka the LUV Poetry Contest.


Thanks to our contest sponsors I Am Root Apparel, Rooted Minds Blog and Poetry Hype



 
[1st Place]

Who Taught You to Love? by Brittany Frizzelle


Who taught you to love?


The lady on TV who was beat on and cheated on?

The parent who had to hold their wounds closed so they couldn’t hold you close?

Or the parent who was so ashamed that they barely spoke your name?

Or the friend with more toys than presence so they always bragged about their presents?

Was it the sister with six dudes but no bills so she opened her legs and closed her heart to feels?

Or the brother who hid his love to be accepted in a world where he has to hide himself and is still rejected?


Who taught you to love?

Why'd you listen?

Did it feel good to be pushed away?

Did it feel good to cry yourself to sleep at night?

You like covering up the pain and shame with fake smiles and fake fame?

You like feeling empty inside with so much shit in your space you can't even sit inside?

Or is it the loneliness taking over your insides while you let just anybody inside?

Or maybe the joy of never having to really love b/c honestly you don’t know real love?


Who taught you to love?

Really?

Or did you just overlook all that and still learn to love yourself?



 
[2nd Place]

Mi Imaginary Amor by Louie Fish | Entry #3


 
[3rd Place]

Social Media by Aretha Rodney | Entry #7


Social Media



When did our value started being determined


by how many people choose to follow you


when did our worth divert to a double tapping of ones


finger leaving thoughts to linger if enough people didn’t tap twice


then just maybe just maybe that photo wasn’t post worthy


when did our identity


and our reality become our enemy


see I don’t mean to offend but in this era we would


rather live a life of pretend just to stay up to date with the recent trend


again


when did our worth divert to one opinion behind a device screen


that results in us tampering with our genes


it seem we live a life based off others reaction


so SELF LOVE just fits a great caption


our satisfaction lies with the world wide web of lies


being deceived by what we see before our eyes


being displeased with our own lives because we still working 9 to 5


as if a 9 to 5


makes one less applicable to succeed and thrive


see so much have changed


and if not doing it like the world your considered a lame


at some point the ultimate goal became a blue check beside ones name


if you ask me social media is what you make it


and its filled with opportunities


people coming together building communites




but on the other end of it its filled with a lot of hypocrites a lot of judges and


jurors a lot of counterfeits


so be sure of who you are so you don’t get lost in it




 
[T-4th Place]

Anger by Leaux | Entry #1

“Anger” by Leaux


If anger was my best friend

I'd hold it's hand through the madness, the sadness

and on one could tell me otherwise

I wouldn't let Him die .

the sad death

.

Id celebrate his transition to better life

while putting down lie after lie

after lie after lie

the ones we told each other

yet we never liked

never alike in more ways than one

he showed me my pain

he was the mirror

and I was barely awake

if anger was my best friend

I’d hold my heart tighter

freeing the madness ,the sadness

and no one could tell me otherwise

Written by: Lauren “Leaux” Marcelee




 
[T-4th Place]

Rainbow by Arianna Muro | Entry #6

Rainbow

We've agreed that the pride rainbow is doesn’t represent the lovers of our hue

But I still love you in colors like I love you in Blue...Like the raging waters of pleasure colliding with pain

Constantly clashing from sadness to hope and but always back to love again

And I love you in yellow…full of joy and optimism every day that I wake and YOU are my shining rays

But then when clouds full of fear conflicting with faith hovers over…I love you in gray

And then In your arms rested I find the comfort of lavender…Lavender that deepens until your purple rain I drink

Intoxicated from your spirits my brown hands find their way to pink

At times I love you in red because rage takes over when you PTSD from past lovers blends in

Reflecting though on your grace, I know I am safe and I'm back to white again

White that offers no opposite to how much I love you in black because we both posses Nigerian DNA

I love you like shining silver lining when things feel bleak and together we pray

Our Jaded hearts once broken now meet focused on the work to heal and mend

Conversations at night journeying through truth and understanding our true colors blend

Discussions that get deeper with each green that we inhale

Exposing ourselves in vivid flesh and 4k honesty seeing every color, texture and detail

And when we fall I love you like the in orange leaves we land in, the pile of blessing we stand in

You see no matter how many muted “just ok” days we have in colors less bold

And no matter our distance from the Pride flag

Our love IS the rainbow…our love in Gold.





 

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