“halloween in college” and “a few things you should know about the universe without swings” use alternate realities to reimagine the past. They both explore language and spacing to give new, radical life to situations that seem unalterable.
halloween in college
IS LIKE when i went downtown to catch the blue line a Black woman fell on the tracks
and didn’t die when i got to jake’s place he asked me if i was okay i said yeah but
he didn’t get it she reached out her hands no one would grab them maybe
they wouldn’t touch her because she smelt dirty or drunk or maybe she
looked too black to survive another day jake wanted to go to the movies
get high get my mind off it or something but he didn't get it the train
came three minutes later it took me one and a half minutes to get her up we all
got on anyways no one cried
BUT ON the actual day of halloween i decided to put my body in a room full of other
bodies i guess it’s my fault but I was the only black girl at the party i still
thought i looked nice and i wanted someone to look at me or something
when too many drunk and white bodies shoved me i fell over searched for an open
fist there wasn’t one it’s the scariest halloween party I've ever been to
if i had three minutes left to spare the music would just get
louder
THE DAY after halloween i dreamt about the woman who fell on the tracks she turned
green and big stopped the train with her pinky jumped to sky
blocked the sun tinted the earth green the men
with closed fists hid underground and never came out
BACK TO the sticky frat floor here’s how it happened for real i melted
through the ground deeper and deeper i made it to the center of the earth it wasn’t hot
like people say i felt a nice breeze met lots of other people we all
said hello and danced and danced and dance
a few things you should know about the universe without swings
1.
i didn't know he was dead until i checked
Facebook. hadn't posted in a while.
his kid said dada first
and scratched a lot
came back to chicago
incase he need to help out or something
but he should've
just left.
2. because
the park don't have swings no more.
it's the Black kids' fault
they like
the swings too much
and swing too high
the university don't like
moving targets. said it's a safety concern.
i don't think it was.
3.
i haven't been home since
the university and the ghosts decided
they don't want me to have
too much fun without them
so, now i live.
4.
in a universe without swings
i guess you could call it parallel
or imaginary all i can tell you is
that we usually lay down here
tough to get outta bed sometimes
and, yeah. there are still
flying things.
Asha Futterman is a poet from Chicago. She is currently a student at Barnard College in New York studying English with a concentration in Race and Ethnic studies.
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