16th & U 

Malik Thompson

By 2010, the African American population in the Shaw and U Street neighborhoods had decreased to
30 percent from 80 percent in 1980. Across the city, more than 20,000 black residents were displaced
between 2000 and 2013.
—”An Oral History of Gentrification in Shaw and U Street NW”, Washington City Paper


no stars tonight, only
muted shadows &
the wild shine      of streetlamps

late August & I walk,
     in this hour,    of neon
           lacing midnight

      treading old haunts
& pavement unfamiliar
       to my knees—

Look!   an echo
             of myself
lingering
             from years long past

what was here once?

I remember or I forget—

& I push on, wading
      into swarms of wraiths
   who speak in frosted dictions

Malik Thompson (he/they) is a Black queer person from Washington, DC. His work has been published in the Cincinnati Review, Denver Quarterly, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships and residencies from organizations including Cave Canem, Lambda Literary, the Anderson Center and Sundress Publications. He can be found on IG via the handle @latesummerstar.

© Variant Literature Inc 2023