Walking Under the Trees

This piece is part of our Winter 2023 print issue, available for purchase here.          

What does one do to protest when one is Black and woman in city sandy white and military and lonely? My lover, like Yahweh, is prone to the hyperbolic— never leaving nor forsaking, his anger always just and provoked. But he is numb and unmoved this lynching season. I am unsure of my capacity to

take     the nearest     last     off to the left     stage     show     over a marked     door     line visitor     handler     exhibit with animal     guarded     the barred banned     with child     without all of them     gatherers     gathered or some of them     citizens     justices unfit     excluded     except closed     no     or into the open air     the way     out     will not be     the