Dear Writers and Readers,
We noticed some less-than-exemplary behavior on Prose today, which forced us to take action against some users. This is a gentle reminder that, while we try to remain as uncensored as possible, some forms of content are simply intolerable. Please note the following passage from our Terms of Service, under Prohibited Content:
Content that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, indecent, lewd, suggestive, harassing, threatening, abusive, inflammatory, fraudulent or otherwise objectionable, or invasive of privacy or publicity rights;
In today’s case, harassment was the keyword. We have taken steps to punish infringing users, and prevent future infringements. Note that we will not be adjudicating arguments, disagreements, or squabbles between users, unless we deem the language used to be grossly abusive or inflammatory.
1. We have added a report button to all posts. You’ll find the button in the lower-right options menu (indicated by an ellipsis icon) of every post. If you encounter a post that violates the Terms of Service, please report it.
2. We have instituted a temporary posting restriction policy against first-time offenders. If we find that you have been harassing folks, spamming, or posting any other sort of Prohibited Content, you will be prevented from posting, commenting, and sending messages for a minimum of three days. Repeat offenders will be permanently banned.
3. We have added an internal feature to remove offensive posts. Posts that violate our Terms of Service, or that provoke grossly abusive or toxic comment threads, will be marked as such and removed after 24 hours. During that period, commenting on such posts will be disabled.
Refer to Section 10 of our Terms of Service for all forms of Prohibited Content: https://theprose.com/p/legal/terms
Happy Writes,
The Prose Team
Be Brave
From mass rapes
Against our women...
Bloody Sunday
On the blacks...
Violence, and naked
Aggression
Tried to keep
Tsunami back...
...The Niagara
Had to cascade!...
No more snags
Would be allowed!...
The body politic
Was lacking, and
Disparate of the
Crowd.
We we're poles apart
From equal...
There was fear
Inside our hearts!...
...Acts of courage
Kept us humble,
And allowed
Healing to start...
Elite had their stinking
Fingers in
All of our sugar bowls...
...It's been hard to know
The up, and up, and
For who the rooster
Crows...
...Now, what were
All of these struggles
For?...
...The women cast in
Jail...
The black youth
Drenched with firehoses...
The gruesome, hateful
Tales
From the South of
Freedom Fighters mauled
By dogs, and by barbed
Wire?...
...Why did they fight?...
Not just for rights, but
For what they all aspired
Would be
A just, and sincere government
That would honor their
Own needs
For the pursuit of happiness,
And freedom.
...We must recall these
Daring deeds
Of protestors who
Weathered limits,
And gave birth to
Brave new worlds.
...And while the
Hydra
Of technology
Continues to unfurl,
We must remember
To keep fighting...
...To not grow weary
In this haze
Of media idolatry,
And frenzy...
We must remember
To be brave.
©
2017
Bunny Villaire
THE PARADOX
Black is the color of my skin.
Black wears the heart
of the plot against our humanity.
Black blows the tyranny
of the white squall,
that denies us all rights and privileges.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black spews the venom
that inspires drudgery
to our bruised mentality.
Black bears the denunciation of a race
For fear that we will all overcome.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black spurs the hatred
that’s conjured up
just by our being.
Black is the putrid deterioration
of our already brainwashed psyche.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black spurns with utter disregard
the ethnicity of the rainbow.
Black breeds the biting desire
Of a whitewashed nation
to keep we sedated.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black defines the blame we are handed
for breathing life’s passions.
Black puts up an impenetrable wall
That’s drilled deep in our souls
To denigrate our ability to soar.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black is the color of my skin.
Black draws out the vile thoughts
of their hardened hearts from within.
Black is the scapegoat
Used in the argument
to segregate us.
But Black is only the color of my skin.
Melanie Bynoe
Shadow Child
I see you've been broken You're eyes always drift away You're pain is a token To remind you who you are It's easy when you're absent of feeling It's easy when you're high It's slow when you're healing It's slow without a sky There's shadows on you're ceiling There's shadows on you're wall Shadows on you're contentment Shadows where you fall
Stinch
Please now won't you stay Everyone's been leaving Won't you please stay This room now feels so empty Say darling wont you stay For me there's no escape These voices lose their face/I'm running short on patience/The thing's these voices say/ I feel a disturbance/The games these voices play/Under the blade of a nervous surgeon Misery is a familiar hand Never abandons me Misery is a treacherous land With many sun's and moon's Misery has open arm's And we are always lonely Drowning here in time Think I've been misplaced Tripping on the lines A fixture in a haze I've felt the serpents bite Fear I've gone astray Crying on his grave Lord let him be saved Flowers on his grave Dispersing their remains Stones on his grave Hold him in place Rain falls upon his grave Washes away mothers stain Misery is a harsh hand/ Buried memories Misery is a witching spell A cloud on my brain Misery is a long death It's hard to smell Who could you tell
Wasteland
Who the fuck are you gonna be Who the fuck are you now Did you ever really care Or was you just thinking out loud Teenage wasteland with a gun in his pants spreading his void The only one's safe here are the ants Crawling up his leg with a list of demands Sleeping on the sidewalk Slipped in some glue The peek has past My how time flew You're day of recovery Is long overdue Junkie wasteland broken into You can put yourself back together But you will never shine new
Pennies and Promises (Ode to a Cunt)
Slip into my newborn skin. Feels like I could fit in. A time to let old wounds mend I found life inside myself So far inside of you. Born to crack A marriage of splintered past Take you're smiles and bury the rest Seasons change without regret Slip into my newborn sin. Atrophy is a familiar stench Found in a cats frozen grin That's where I left myself So far away from you Burn it to ash Cover it all black Bury you're smiles with the rest Seasons change without regret
9 Years in Purgatory
Fade back to black now, there's a rhyme and I'll find it somewhere. I'm pulling in the slack now, I'm handing out the last of my cares. All my regrets and sorrow won't change yesterday. You took the sunshine with you, when you went away. I'm looking back now, taking care not to lose you to time. Say can I relax now, my faith is tarnished but I'm still alive. All my regrets and sorrows won't change yesterday, You took the sunshine with you, when you went away. You took the sunshine with you, 9 years ago today.