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Witness        by Veneta Masson

Sunday
after church
under a sleeve of summer sky
we walk up the alley
called Wiltberger Street
look down
at the blood-stained cement.

He was fourteen
on just another
hip hop high top
Saturday
in the hood when
somebody put his lights out--
semiautomatic.

 

 The people who live
on the alley
behind brick facades
won't talk
but lock up their kids
for the weekend.
They could be next.

I want to kneel
in this stagnant pool
of spent rage,
smear the blood all over
my face, my clothes
and wander like Cain
through the city and say
    Look at me and see
    what I have seen.

 But I don't.
I stay where I am,
nursing the wounds
that never heal for want
of the capacity to feel--
like ulcers on a sole
bereft of sensation.

What balm is there
in this violent Gilead
to make the wounded whole?
I know no cure
and all I have is breath
a voice
and memory--
        a memory
        a voice.

Veneta (Nina) Masson is a nurse and writer living in Washington DC. She is a member of New Community Church.

Here is a list of recent articles & poems by Veneta Masson

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