Photo by Taylor Grote on Unsplash
the imaginary smell of marijuana
brown skin
loud music
brown skin
cell phones
brown skin
black women
brown skin
broken taillights
brown skin
people who follow directions
brown skin
people who don’t follow directions
brown skin
dreadlocks
attached to brown body
arizona teas and skittles
in brown hand
loose cigarettes
sold by brown man
civil rights
for brown people
the truth
*an earlier version of this piece appeared in Zoetic Press in 2017
Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a writing consultant, teacher, and poet. Her works have appeared in SWWIM, Memoir Mixtapes, and Zoetic Press, among others. Her chapbook, you were supposed to be a friend, is available at Nightingale & Sparrow (June 2020). When Ashley isn't serving as assistant editor at Sundress Publications or working as a member of the Estuary Collective, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet). She lives in Baltimore, MD with her partner and hopefully soon a few furry friends.