Kyle G. Dargan has lived in Washington, D.C., for twenty years as a writer, editor, arts programmer, and teacher, ing entities from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities to 826DC.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, he has published six poetry collections, most recently Panzer Herz: A Live Dissection. His work has garnered the Cave Canem Prize, the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, the Lenore Marshall Prize and has been a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award and longlisted for the Pulitzer Prize.
He is currently a professor of creative communication at American University and books editor for Janelle Monáe’s creative company, Wondaland. He resides in Ward 7.
(from the Intersections series)
15TH & INDEPENDENCE
Maybe this is an experiment in induced patriotism–
a white moonlight backdrop for a rave of red-blue
flashes from unmanned Interceptors scare-
crowing at every corner in a two-block radius.
Maybe this is just what happens when a block’s news
outgrows the mouths of the grandmothers
who used to relay it–you heard all them
gunshots–and now, instead, doorbell cameras
capture flickers of barrel bursts and the distorted pows
of boys releasing Ruger clips into the darkness.
And then it has popped up on NBC4, then the apps.
And then it is another reason D.C. can’t be
self-governed And then it is an albatross circling
the Mayor’s head. And then–
And now all this bitter light. Floodlights. cruiser lights,
all night. My house is not here. But I ride through
en route to my Southeast. Before I the Armory
and RFK soon-to-be mercy-imploded, this was a quiet
triangle before the river, beyond which I knew I might need
to nerve myself against what roves east of the Anacostia.
This used to be so quiet, I swore I could smell it,
but now, it is so bright, it burns.
Sandra Beasley is the curator of “Poetic Hill,” a resident of Southwest, and the author of four poetry collections. If you live in D.C. and you’re interested in being featured, you can reach her at [email protected] for questions and submissions (1-5 poems).
