Mariah Boone’s most recent poem to appear here was Herb Box (April 2012).
Uprooted
By Mariah Boone
I stop to gaze
At a bougainvillea so red–
I’ve never seen a scarlet one before–
In the yard of a rickety house
Out by City Hall
A lady on the porch leans forward because
In her mind
A white woman in a
Toyota can only mean
CPS in this neighborhood
I wave and drive away
Knowing but unable to change the fact
That my attempt to be nonthreatening
Will only confuse
At a bougainvillea so red–
I’ve never seen a scarlet one before–
In the yard of a rickety house
Out by City Hall
A lady on the porch leans forward because
In her mind
A white woman in a
Toyota can only mean
CPS in this neighborhood
I wave and drive away
Knowing but unable to change the fact
That my attempt to be nonthreatening
Will only confuse
Amazing how we can switch from beauty to fear, to calm.