DC is
(my take)
DC is scuffed black Nike Boots
bad roads that snarl at tires
teenage girls talkin’ bitches and niggas on the bus-
making a grandma sweat in her flower print dress
is schizophrenic weather
and schizophrenic black homeless men with stained shirts in downtown
pressed black suits and stiff ties,
blue eyes stare away from the homeless men in downtown
is black fathers holding black babies on the way to somewhere
——————————–
DC is loneliness
Go-Go in the air
a boy’s rattle snake hands
jumping out for a taste
of me
humidity so thick I can’t scissor through it
feet jumping on a basketball court
cherry blossoms and police sirens
empty pockets and the white house
decaying buildings
and their half a-million dollar replacements
DC is female fistfights in Southeast
—————————————————–
DC is dreadlocks
short and limp
long and medusa
conscious sistas spreading rumors about me
then blaming it on the wind
DC is babies everywhere
on the metro train, waving at me
out of car windows
DC is maternal
———————————————————–
DC is silence and mambo sauce
carry-outs and dark alleys
El Salvador and injera
men yelling hey baby, why don’t you smile
or Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?!
————————-
DC is where I live
for now
-Nijla (C)2009

roses and wire
i love your poetry.
stay inspired.
aim higer,
z.bediako