Water (pressure)

what did they promise you

when you signed your new lease

when you moved your way up?

did they tell you rich neighborhoods are silent?

nobody cries out loud and

all the pressure is in the water

so you just

drink.

did they tell you there’s no music here

and nobody’s grandma pacing outside

to see you in late at night?

or that daddy can’t come either

because wheelchairs won’t fit

through rich people doors?

did they tell you

mama’ d also be gone

no longer seeing herself in you.

the only way to break a curse

is with vinegar and boiling water

and you just

(drink)

Notes: Thank you to Jack Carenza and Jannel Alston, who helped me edit and refine this poem!

Fear of Flying

Through dawn light, Black bodies plummet into blue—

One in thousands destined to dissolve in blue.

Our pressed collars cannot protect our grace

Each polished button drowns its shine in blue.

They claim the stratosphere's a neutral space

But graves are mapped and measured, signed in blue.

Our mothers dressed us bright as morning stars

Now obituaries, neat, aligned in blue.

These clouds reject our outstretched hands at last

Our dreams of flight forever twined with blue.