Anastacia-Reneé:

on
Michelle Alexander's “Lit Ways”

"In my neck / holding / this asphalt / terror / is a star / Line." This heavy circle of words dangling there in the middle of the poem, not waiting for permission from the reader but inviting them as a witness—I love the way this poem's format and structure give way to a body of words that embody a road. A sky. Liberation. Pain. As a reader the ending is flashing-neon and true: "America / When service is a station, pump the brake."