The Exchange: Out South Circuit, and Chi Town Violence Steals Away the Community

The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.

Out South Circuit by Chima “Naira” Ikoro

whenever nintendo decides to add a Black character, i will one hundred percent eat it up
some times i buy into the illusion of inclusion
cause i don’t have the bandwidth to be pissed off.
dustin’ folks playing a blonde hair blue eyed princess just doesn’t give

i hope that DLC is Black as hell.
so Black, the new race track is modeled after Out South
instead of throwing banana peels we are throwing italian fiesta slices
instead of a sound canon
the new Black Princess Plum turns around and sprays got2b glue on whoever’s behind
and they get fused to the concrete
she uncaps a jar of shine and jam, and everyone slides out of her way
she is riding on a bike she borrowed from her cousin
who borrowed it from some kid down the street after saying
he promises to bring it back

you’re literally never getting that damn bike back.

as toadette drifts past Plum, she doesn’t suck her teeth
(hating don’t make you no paper)
instead, she says okay mushroom, c’mon mushroom!
her nitro boost is a song she really likes
a sound that reminds her of summer
crossing the finish line in the final lap she pops a wheelie
and sticks her tongue out
ah! period!

Prompt:

“Write yourself into your favorite movie, video game or TV show.”

This could be a poem, journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness piece. Submissions could be new or formerly written pieces.

Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com

Featured below is a response to a previous prompt from a reader. The last poem and prompt can be found online.

Chi Town Violence Steals Away the Community by Claude Robert Hill, IV.

I am somebody
Shot in the Head…
Found the bullets.
Coroner Said.
A child of God struck dead.
Gang related disputing Fools.
Aiming cowardly bullets right at you.
I guess praying prayers just won’t do.
There is no safe in these hard knocks realities’ Truths.
Our Sista child!
Our mother child!
All the while the bodies pile.
Her body now adds to that ‘the shootings aren’t as bad as last year’ body count.
Can’t even stand anywhere in your city NOW?
Something has to truly give.
There’s a plague of rigid legalities, relaxed moralities, and political realities stealing the ‘safe’ from our dying breed.
The Black man withering away in siphoning inequalities.
Doubling unemployment stretches outward like a statistical wild fire….
Our present fact.
There is a genocidal component to these criminal acts.

Chima Ikoro is the Weekly’s Community Builder.