This recognition means a lot to me and anyone who can directly relate to this poem. Thank you to everyone for all the kind and encouraging words.
Driving Home
It’s cold outside, but I can’t wear a hoodie.
My pants are too tight, but at least it doesn’t look like I’m carrying.
My car is run down, but at least I’m less likely to get pulled over.
I just need to make it a few more blocks…
#BlackLivesMatter
~
NCCO- 49 words- Driving Home 2020 Copyright © Toinette J. Thomas
Please visit other entries in this hop and enjoy some funny, scary, touching, and thought-provoking stories. You’ll be so glad you did.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords #blacklivesmatter
51 replies on “Urban Nightmare #WEPFF Challenge featuring Driving Home #amwriting #poetry”
You’ve said so much in so few words. You’ve eloquently described a fear that’s unimaginable for many of us, but all too real for people of color. This world needs to change. It has to. #BlackLivesMatter
Thank you, Tricia. I wanted to write a lot more, but these are the only words that came. Ultimately, I don’t think I needed to say anymore.
In keeping with the times Toi, powerful. Thank you for this Urban Nightmare, in advance … wishing you an inspired summer of writing.
Thank you, Susan. I wish you much inspiration this summer as well.
Eloquent and important.
The world needs to be and do so much better!!
Thank you.
You said it all. I pray that soon the entire world will recognize that Black Lives Matter. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for your words.
Powerful, succinct, and heart-breaking.
Thank you.
I didn’t know one could pack so much meaning, so many emotion into such a short word count. Excellent and heartbreaking.
I thought I wanted to say more, but once I wrote it, I knew I’d said it all.
This poem made me feel so sad. It’s beautifully written and relevant to what’s exploding right now. I agree with Olga – packed with emotion.
Thank you.
Hi,
it is horrible when a person has to fear for his or her life because of the color of their skin. Being born and raised in the Deep South, I know what it feels like because I lived through it, thinking it was the only place in the world where segregation and the color of the skin mattered. That is until I became an Expatriate in Europe and saw the hideous things done to other minorities living in other countries. I then realized that racisim is a deadly disease that runs through humanity.
Loved your poem. Short, it spoke out the fear one has being different from the others.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat Garcia
It’s a fear that no one should know, but one that most people of color live with daily.
The most powerful things are often said in just a few words. Loved the poem. I wish the world was kinder and equal. Wish for better sense to prevail.
Thank you. I too wish the world was kinder and equal.
So powerful Toi. It reminded me of that meme on FB where it was pointed out all the things that were unsafe if you were black. No white person ever thinks that way. Pat’s right, this disease of attacking anyone ‘different’ is widespread. Your poem could be at the beginning of a story. I could see it unfold in my head as I read. Despite all his precautions, he gets picked up by the cops, is brutalized, dies. Another black life that didn’t matter.
Very topical. Awesome for the prompt.
Wishing you good health and good writing!
That’s why I left the last line open. I wanted people to think about whether he actually makes it home. Thank you for your kind words and wishes.
Sadly, powerfully true for far too many.
Surely this time we can ALL step up to the plate.
I hope so.
I hate it when I see a cop behind me, but I do know it means something different for a 55-year-old white woman to be pulled over than for a black person. I had one cop who was so condescending to me that I just wanted to reach out of the car and slap him. But I consider myself fortunate that I never for a moment thought he would try to kill me.
~Cie from Naughty Netherworld Press~
Every black person in American thinks they might die if they get pulled over. One headlight on my car went out earlier this year and refused to go out at night until I was able to get it fixed.
So eloquent, so powerful, so poignant! This just turned both my heart and brain inside out. How the world treats its minorities needs to change drastically and needs to change now. In every country, not just in the USA or UK.
When the word minority actually applies to a group of people with a smaller population than the majority, mabe we’ll be on the right track. You’re right, the whole world needs to re-evaluate how people are treated.
This is stunning. It’s amazing how you capture so much with so few words. This is a daily reality for so many people, and a lot of others are simply unwilling to see it or take action. I hope things change for the better.
Thank you. I too hope for change.
Short, yet powerful!
#BlackLivesMatter indeed. A powerful piece about the reality for too many. Racism has to end. The privileged, like me, have a responsibility to end it with constructive means. Our silence does nothing, nor does our insincerity.
Thank you for your words and support.
Succinct, yet heartbreaking.
Thank you.
Hi Toi – too close to the bone for many … that constant fear must be so draining. Well said … #BlackLivesMatter and all lives matter. Well said … as Shannon says … ‘succinct, yet heartbreaking’ … take care and stay safe – Hilary
Thank you.
Relevant, beautiful, poignant. The last line caught my breath in my throat and the poem leaves one’s heart rending for change. #BlackLivesMatter
Yes, I think the last line is what encompasses the real fear so many feel- not knowing if we’ll make it home.
You words made me cry!
Thank you for sharing your feelings.
Wow! This took my breath away. Succinct and searing. The thought process no one should have to have, the ambiguity of the ending no one should have to contemplate. Powerful! Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, I know this feeling.
It saddens me that this is a feeling that too many experience daily. Thank you for sharing your feelings.
A concise piece that takes advantage of that to empower every word. Well done, Toi.
Thank you.
Very powerful and succinct. Tragic that this needs to be anyone’s thought process. Well done.
Thank you.
Congratulations Toi on your WEP win … it is a very powerful, appropriate piece at this time … take care and all the best – Hilary
Thank you.
Congratulations, Toi, on the win! Well deserved for a powerful, moving piece
Thank you.