stay safe

they're mine,
too,
these streets.
i hate taking them
back;
it acknowledges
the uphill battle
of so many
battles
i would like to fight.
but screw the status quo
and supposed street smarts!
i'll race the shadows
on high
and flee from sleep
on elm
every night
until an army joins me,
or my own fear flees.
it pounds,
the two-step
leap,
bounding off
these streets,
running from thoughts,
images,
memories,
confusion,
shadows,
ignoring the pain
in my left achilles
or right hip flexor.
(it hurts all of us,
whether we acknowledge
it
or not:
the geography
of a woman's fear
is not a map
of her own psychosis,
it's an indication
of the ground
we are all
standing on.)

DLS