Black Lives Matter: "Facing US" by Amanda Johnston

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( March 19, 2018 [Facing US]( [Amanda Johnston]( after Yusef Komunyakaa My black face fades, hiding inside black smoke. I knew they'd use it, dammit: tear gas. I'm grown. I'm fresh. Their clouded assumption eyes me like a runaway, guilty as night, chasing morning. I run this way—the street lets me go. I turn that way—I'm inside the back of a police van again, depending on my attitude to be the difference. I run down the signs half-expecting to find my name protesting in ink. I touch the name Freddie Gray; I see the beat cop's worn eyes. Names stretch across the people’s banner but when they walk away the names fall from our lips. Paparazzi flash. Call it riot. The ground. A body on the ground. A white cop’s image hovers over us, then his blank gaze looks through mine. I’m a broken window. He’s raised his right arm a gun in his hand. In the black smoke a drone tracking targets: No, a crow gasping for air. [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( Copyright © 2018 Amanda Johnston. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem “I wrote this poem after Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem ‘[Facing It](.’ Through Komunyakaa’s poem, the reader witnesses a black veteran facing his past in the Vietnam War at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I wanted to use the structure of that poem to look at the state sponsored war on black people in the United States. The opening statement in the video of my reading the poem is from the [Black Poets Speak Out]( campaign. It unifies poets around the world who speak out against police violence.” —Amanda Johnston [Amanda Johnston reads "Facing US"]( Watch Amanda Johnston reading "Facing US," as part of [Where My Dreaming and My Loving Live: Poetry & the Body](. [watch]( [Amanda Johnston]( Amanda Johnston is the author of Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press, 2017). She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Austin, Texas. [more-at-poets]( [Another Way to Say Enter]( Poetry by Johnston [Another Way to Say Enter]( (Argus House Press, 2017) New Anthology: Curated by Amanda Johnston Read this anthology of poems related to Black Lives Matter, curated by Amanda Johnston and featuring poetry by Ross Gay, Dawn Lundy Martin, and Claudia Rankine, among others. [more-at-poets]( Learn More About Black Lives Matter Visit the website of [Black Lives Matter](, a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities. Where My Dreaming and My Loving Live As part of the [Poetry Coalition](’s second annual programming initiative, we’re dedicating Sunday through Friday of Poem-a-Day this week to showcasing poems that explore the theme of Poetry & the Body through several different lenses. Share this week’s poems with #MyDreamingMyLoving. [Share This Poem: #MyDreamingMyLoving]( [Find More Poem: Browse our Collection of 8,000+ Poems]( [Support Poem-a-Day: Make a Monthly Donation]( [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038