Death arrived at 4:45 this AM.
Last night I put myself to bed early and slept deeply, too deep to hear the pop-pop-pop of the shots that killed the 25 year old man as he ran in terror onto the stoop of his Baby Momma's house, at the intersection of V & 18th street SE.
His blood is still caked thick on the three cement steps outside of the house where he was murdered. About an hour ago the lady at the laundramat told me "they tore the meat out his head with the first two shots, and prolly a good thing he didn't make it in that building 'cos his girlfriend and his son would've been kill't too."
The front door is covered in ragged police tape and some sort of black powder next to the large brown stains of blood....meat?
It is the closest we've had to a real spring day in the District. Blue skies with just a mild chill of winter left in the breeze. He had just been released from jail last Wednesday, she told me. Had just called his brother and asked for "an application". Apparantly he wasn't any kind of major hustla, just as wrapped up in The Game as any young brotha in these parts may be. Just got out of jail a little while ago. "I don't judge these kids", she said, folding towels for drop service customers. He had no car. "Still on the bus", was how she put it "Nice boy. A little fat. No trouble at all..."
She warned me to keep my mouth shut and keep walking. "Tinted windows? Bad news. And when I sees 'em, I get the fuck away."
On the corner of 16th and V, (see pic of abandoned house below), near the sign where the B2 stops to take passengers up to Minnesota Ave and beyond, folks were huddling and pointing up the street. The set that works the corner right near my house were in a deep cipher, none of the usual "How ya doin' green eyes?" today. They were smoking blunts in front of a black sedan, pumping Tupac's "It Ain't Easy", keeping vigil across the street from the killing spot. CRIME SCENE tape flapped limply from an overstuffed trash can that will not be picked up any time soon.
Three cars with tinted windows did a slow roll by the house. I kept my head down and walked up the hill dragging my suitcase of fresh laundry. Got home, unpacked my sons grey uniform pants and began to cry.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Monday, August 22, 2005
Anacostia - or - Paradise?
It is ridiculous to take the time to set up a blog and then leave it for almost two months. I had even forgotten where this spot was! My friend sent me a link to her blog spot (which you must check out as soon as I learn how to link and all of that good stuff) and it got me inspired to try this again. Better than running around suffering from mental constipation...going to sleep with the "why didn't I create something today" voices on top. We've recently returned from the beautiful Bahamas, so it's hard for me to get excited about my evolution in this emerging shit hole called South East DC. That was bitter and rude and my mother will definitely be telling me to be careful what I write because a blog is public record and language like that is never acceptable...but she lives in Reston, VA...home of the scented toilet paper and drug store clerks with Botox smiles. It's summertime in the 'hood and the trash is stank. So there.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Bon Jour Blog Babies!
You've just stepped into Anacostia, so be thanking goodness that it's virtual and you don't find yourself alone on Good Hope road without a clue.
That's where I come in, at the ready to assist you as you assist me in unravelling this complex mystery of how and why it all came to be. You and me here, that is.
They tell me Anacostia's an emerging neighborhood. That there are "police on the streets night and day". And that the addicts at Buckmon House (next door) are harmless. Sounds good to me. See, I'm emerging, too. And now that my divorce from the Marlboro Man is finalized -- it's been one year -- and I finally got rid of Mickey Joe (well I couldn't rightly say I'd "broken up with Mary Jane" could I?) -- I wouldn't feel comfortable judging. Or am I being careful? A little too eager to fit in?
I don't know what they mean by emerging. From the looks of things the buildings are almost all Post War structures. We are currently shacking up in a brick house, with white shutters, on the edge of Fort Stanton Park. The little row of houses on the adjoining street are all two story wood affairs. So aged the peeling paint is drips pure lead.
I want to know how a neighborhood that's over one hundred years old is all of a sudden emerging. More than that, I need to share how I came to this place, at a time in my life when the fires out, the emergencies are over, the troops have gone home and there ain't nothing left but ants on the picnic carrion of my life.
Like I said before, gentle reader, you're assisting me as I assist you in the unravelling and...fuck the five dollar words. And the euphemisms. And the careful tip-toe of racially hyper aware Ameri-speak. I moved to Anacostia because the rent was cheaper than any other in the entire DC area. And now it's "emerging"....into what? I am part of that "emergence". Wow. Lucky for me. Or, lucky for me?
Closer, please. Use that cy-birds eye view....
An Abundant Creature but you wouldn't know it by the balance on my ACE check cashing card. That is to say, there aren't any savings, and pay day is always a brief, flush moment followed by a full belly and a "now what?". I am raising a boy child alone. Been around the world and I-I-I...well, I GOT a baby. Hmmm...not so different from the other peely paint places, is it?
Abundant. The landlady hasn't wired this new building for land line phone service, but the comcast cable is working swell enough to start a blog and there's always Voice IP telephony to investigate. Been around the world and I-I-I...well, I may not be similar to the neighbors in that respect. But trust, when the comcast bill arrives, I will be sweating!
Here I am, on the tip of the "emerging" spear, like a rat tempted by the cheese of free rent, unaware that the cobra's frozen, open mouthed before her. "Test it out, and maybe we'll buy once the carpetbaggers have sold their properties to the conglomerates". Or maybe, "thanks for that, sucker, but we'll pass".
How will history emerge for Anacostia and her Abundant Creature?
That's where I come in, at the ready to assist you as you assist me in unravelling this complex mystery of how and why it all came to be. You and me here, that is.
They tell me Anacostia's an emerging neighborhood. That there are "police on the streets night and day". And that the addicts at Buckmon House (next door) are harmless. Sounds good to me. See, I'm emerging, too. And now that my divorce from the Marlboro Man is finalized -- it's been one year -- and I finally got rid of Mickey Joe (well I couldn't rightly say I'd "broken up with Mary Jane" could I?) -- I wouldn't feel comfortable judging. Or am I being careful? A little too eager to fit in?
I don't know what they mean by emerging. From the looks of things the buildings are almost all Post War structures. We are currently shacking up in a brick house, with white shutters, on the edge of Fort Stanton Park. The little row of houses on the adjoining street are all two story wood affairs. So aged the peeling paint is drips pure lead.
I want to know how a neighborhood that's over one hundred years old is all of a sudden emerging. More than that, I need to share how I came to this place, at a time in my life when the fires out, the emergencies are over, the troops have gone home and there ain't nothing left but ants on the picnic carrion of my life.
Like I said before, gentle reader, you're assisting me as I assist you in the unravelling and...fuck the five dollar words. And the euphemisms. And the careful tip-toe of racially hyper aware Ameri-speak. I moved to Anacostia because the rent was cheaper than any other in the entire DC area. And now it's "emerging"....into what? I am part of that "emergence". Wow. Lucky for me. Or, lucky for me?
Closer, please. Use that cy-birds eye view....
An Abundant Creature but you wouldn't know it by the balance on my ACE check cashing card. That is to say, there aren't any savings, and pay day is always a brief, flush moment followed by a full belly and a "now what?". I am raising a boy child alone. Been around the world and I-I-I...well, I GOT a baby. Hmmm...not so different from the other peely paint places, is it?
Abundant. The landlady hasn't wired this new building for land line phone service, but the comcast cable is working swell enough to start a blog and there's always Voice IP telephony to investigate. Been around the world and I-I-I...well, I may not be similar to the neighbors in that respect. But trust, when the comcast bill arrives, I will be sweating!
Here I am, on the tip of the "emerging" spear, like a rat tempted by the cheese of free rent, unaware that the cobra's frozen, open mouthed before her. "Test it out, and maybe we'll buy once the carpetbaggers have sold their properties to the conglomerates". Or maybe, "thanks for that, sucker, but we'll pass".
How will history emerge for Anacostia and her Abundant Creature?