Devon Balwit
White Is All I Know
Why do you hate me? I don’t know. I don’t.
I nailed together this trestle and now it wants
a train. What else to do with the track?
Hug me man. I don’t know. I can’t.
My arms hang slab numb like a hung
haunch, freezer chill lifting crystals.
What is it about me, my skin color, my history,
my dreadlocks? I am struck dumb, a mute chassis
stripped then propped on blocks.
I run with spit, vanish into a hundred phones,
know my scowl will stare back tomorrow,
multiplied. White. All I know.
Devon Balwit is a writer/teacher from Portland, Oregon. Her poems of protest have appeared previously in What Rough Beast as well as in The New Verse News, Poets Reading the News, Rattle, Redbird Weekly Reads, Rise-Up Review, Rat’s Ass Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, Mobius, and more.
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