Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul
-Charles Ernest Henley
i remember when we danced on
the steel tightrope of metro tracks,
when we plumbed the oval-hearted shallows
of the tidal basin.
i remember when we vaulted over
the sneering spikes of metro fences,
when we scoured the sand-soled depths
of the anacostia river.
my unconquerable soul:
starting to quake and shiver,
becoming a pizza
with no hands to deliver.
for the night is blacker
when we scoured the depths
of the anacostia river,
ghetto scuba diving
for a treasure
that was never sunk.
i remember when
the daylight was brighter,
how you used to tell me
that washington was a martyr, not a city!
with lips painted rouge, so pretty!
as we plumbed the shallows
of our shallower hearts
and counted falling cherry blossoms
that lined the tidal basin
like flowering darts.
i remember when innocence tasted bad,
had the stale odor of week-old soup;
i remember when innocence
was all that we had
and when your arms had all the strength
of a girl scout troop.
