*Written after “Knoxville Tennessee” By Nikki Giovanni. This poem was written during a writing workshop led by Anthony Harrell Jr., a Peer Ambassador for RealTalkDC.

 

When it pours out

You will be a vessel

For the living;

For the untold story;

For the man behind bars,

And the shackles.

You will be siren

For mermaids still seeking their song;

For the princess of the harem,

And street rats

Choking on their stolen poison.

It will shoot out;

Arrows bowed in back-draft,

And marks drawn for target;

Swift,

Fierce,

Bloody rage of rant.

When it pours out;

It will feel natural,

Unlike the work of normal days.