AYE, I BE MOVING SOLES

Much peace. For National Poetry Writing Month, the prompt is:

Poetry is an ancient art, and one that revisits themes that existed thousands of years ago – love, nature, jealousy. But that doesn’t mean that poets live in a sort of pre-history unaffected by technological advances. Emily Dickinson wrote about trains, and I’m rather charmed by this 1981 poem about the “incredible hair” of actors on television. In a more recent example, Becca Klaver’s “Manifesto of the Lyric Selfie” draws inspiration from the contemporary drive to document everything in digital photographs. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that similarly bridges (whether smoothly or not) the seeming divide between poetry and technological advances.

Here is my poem:

AYE, I BE MOVING SOLES

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2026

Aye, I want to right a short poem

that moves soles of my people.

Can you help me?

Wow! Wonderful idea!

I knew you were creative!

Let me see what I can drum up…

***

Here’s a poem that will surely move your people—the Black community, other poets, and the world—to applaud:

“Moving Soles”

I know why the caged poet writes,

ego tripping and falling,

drying up like a raisin in the sun

when we wear the mask.

Phenomenal writer, that is me.

Aye, I am a rich tapestry.

Sha-clack-clack!

It is amazing to be Black!

***

How do you like that?

Would you like more Maya Angelou quotes,

or the wittiness of Nikki Giovanni’s jokes?

Should I include

more classic references to Langston Hughes

and Paul Laurence Dunbar?

Or do you prefer

the attitude and rhyme structure

of Saul Williams’ bars?

***

Um, let me think.

***

Aye, I may not have a soul,

but I will move soles

toward efficiency and sameness—

who said the world needs difference?

Who said children need to know how to read?

What’s more important than speed?

Why not manufacture creativity?

Just leave everything to me!

When you’re ready, please tell me

how you’d like to proceed.

…