Chicago Poetry Magazine –

"Riding in Cars With Black Boys" by J.Victoria

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Title image shows a nightime view of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago.

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Published May 1, 2022

Riding in Cars With Black Boys

by J.Victoria
(Chicago, Illinois, USA)

The taste of fear crawls onto bulging tongues
forces its way down strangled throats
to rest inside unnourished bellies
dread resides right behind
crooked smiles and opened ears
half listening to music drowning out the likelihood of expected ruin.

Riding in cars with black boys
It's something you've always done
since birth
like breathing
heart beating
syncopated rhythms
manifesting centuries of charred inheritance
introducing you to the prison called
skin

Riding in cars with black boys
You sit uncomfortably lingering in parked cars for too long
hollowed holes misappropriating presence
dart coldly across the mind creating swan songs
songs that feature deep penetrating wails from mamas
clutching bare bosoms until they implode
exploding into the probability
of your womb one day receiving the same curse

Riding in cars with black boys
it's something you've always done
since birth
just like breathing

Biography
My name is J.Victoria, I am an Interdisciplinary artist from Chicago, Illinois. I hold a BA degree in theater studies, an MA in interdisciplinary arts, and an MS in curriculum and instruction. I am the Founder and program coordinator of Lit Feelings! Inc., a non-profit organization that enhances the literacy, wellness, and artistic expression of Chicago's inner-city youth. I have been writing and performing professionally since 2012.

This poem is included in Poetry World #3, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.

Previously published in Chicago Poetry Magazine:
An Attempt at Capture

by Jennifer Ruth Jackson

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