I Am Not Trayvon

I am not Trayvon
I have never owned a hoodie
I don't like Skittles
I am not an African-American

I am not Zimmerman
I have never felt the need to patrol a block
I don't like guns
I am not Hispanic

Anna Maria

A name
is written with a sea shell
on the back of your thigh
as gulls cry overhead

Northern skin
pass upon your lips
as a thousand miles of memories
touch down upon your shore

30 Days...30 Poets

On April 1, the Academy of American Poets will kick off its 2nd annual celebration of "30 Days, 30 Poets" for National Poetry Month. This April, 30 dynamic poets will take over curation of the Academy's Tumblr. Each featured poet will have 24 hours to post an array of ephemera—in the form of text, images, audio, and video—before passing the baton. The Tumblr takeover follows 2011's lauded "30 Days, 30 Poets" on the Academy's Twitter feed.