Sarah Browning: Petworth, Early Evening

A man is stabbing women in my neighborhood.

Most poor people in my city are Black

and because of the warnings of 400 years

I assume the man stabbing women

is Black. Walking home, I pass

a young Black man on the sidewalk.

When I first spotted him I did not

cross the street, though I thought to.

As we pass he reaches into his pocket

and I feel fear, how white I am.

From his pocket he pulls

a phone. Calls his girlfriend or grandma

or buddy up the street, his job, his pastor,

his boyfriend, his AA sponsor. I don’t want

to be afraid of my neighbors, walking home

from the Metro in the clear light of evening.

I want to tear history from my throat.

My son is in his room texting his friends.

It is June in the 21^st century.

Vox Populi