Charlottesville

Shrill screams, scrambling, hollering,

as the engine of a sleek silver car speeds

into persons, bodies, citizens,

into souls wearing skin:

light skin,

dark skin,

holey pored,

freckled, scarred skin,

shiny soft/ ragged calloused skin,

wrinkled, weathered, lined skin,

teenage skin, thirty two year old skin,

tight scalp skin in caps, kerchiefs and bobby pins,

dangling brown braids and tied back dreadlocks,

red, white and blond locks.

Skin inside cotton, clothing plucked by plows and stitched into denim,

tank tops, blood drenched socks, shorts, skirts, t shirts,

sneakers

slipping on

street dirt,

earlobes, eyelids, elbows,

blistered heels, flailing, flexing muscles,

spotty sunburned skin,

sweaty baby skin,

skinny pale skin,

brown round skin,

wet salty dead skin...

skin is

skin is

skin is

skin -

cells to hold breath and bones and

organs in.