WOKE UP

 

I woke up feeling wakeful

Leapt straight out of bed

Not too far from midnight

With a niggle in my head

I’m told there is new meaning

Within the wakey-wakey folk

Adding credence to awareness

For the ordinary bloke

To me, it’s always been that way

Alertness on your street

A wary eye on all directions

Should the unexpected meet

Being ‘woke’ may well provoke

Much Confusion all around

Where all the angry sides confide

Bringing highest minds to ground

But most of all when bigotry

Is used to gag and choke

Snuffing out a person’s right to be

Under a ‘Law and Order’ cloak

 

OXFORD DICTIONARIES

ADJECTIVE (woker, wokest)

 

sometimes derogatory

 

Alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination: he's an activist and very wokewoke culture has moved into mainstream journalism my neighbourhood is a very woke area we need to stay angry, and stay woke

 

Usage

As an adjective woke was first recorded in African American usage in the late 19th century, meaning awake, not asleep. The contemporary meaning arose in the US during the 1960s, with the idea of being well informed and aware of what was going on in society. In the 21st century woke was popularized by association with the Black Lives Matter movement and by the lyrics of the 2008 song ‘Master Teacher’ by Erykah Badu, in which the words ‘I stay woke’ serve as a refrain.

 

More recently the word has been used in a more derogatory way, by people who oppose progressive reforms or feel that their advocates are unrealistic or interfering