"The Pedestrian" by Tommye Blount

When the pickup truck, with its side mirror,

Support Poem-a-Day February 19, 2020   The Pedestrian Tommye Blount When the pickup truck, with its side mirror, almost took out my arm, the driver's grin reflected back; it was just a horror show that was never going to happen, don't protest, don't bother with the police for my benefit, he gave me a smile— he too was startled, redness in his face— when I thought I was going, a short while, to get myself killed: it wasn't anger when he bared his teeth, as if to caution calm down, all good, no one died, ni[ght, neighbor]— no sense getting all pissed, the commotion of the past is the past; I was so dim, he never saw me—of course, I saw him. Copyright © 2020 by Tommye Blount. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 19, 2020, by the Academy of American Poets. "Love, of course, the sonnet was built for little songs of love, but its power also resides in how it can force one to negotiate the tensions between two opposed entities (moods, places, people, etc.) in such a small amount of space; in such a short amount of time. Time, yes, but also history is the engine powering this poem. History, and I do mean American history, is rife with accounts of marginalized people forced—either through violence or some other trickery just shy of illegality—to make room for white people and whiteness. The event in this poem happened to me a day before I started writing it, in my hometown of Detroit. And, no, it wasn't that long ago." —Tommye Blount Tommye Blount is the author of Fantasia for the Man in Blue (Four Way Books, March 2020) and the chapbook What Are We Not For (Bull City Press, 2016). A Cave Canem fellow, he lives in Detroit, Michigan.   What Are We Not For (Bull City Press, 2016) "A Louder Thing" by Tiana Clark read more "You Can't Survive on Salt Water" by Kalamu ya Salaam read more Thanks to Roger Reeves, author of King Me (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read an extended Q&A about Reeves' curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Make a one-time contribution to help us publish Poem-a-Day.   Make your support go further by enrolling in monthly giving and joining the Mug Club! From Our Sponsors Copyright © 2020 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: The Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane St #901 New York, NY 10038 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.