Lizzie Parker
Inspiration piece

Metro Outlaw
by Charisse Cecil
Response

I am an outlaw.
If you ride the Metro rail,
you understand me.

I have to sit there:
in the designated seat
for the disabled.

Those seats face inward.
No one seated behind you,
nor concealed inside.

No rude teenagers,
pelting me with their loud talk
and sunflower seeds.

No child behind me,
yanking at the cowrie shells
that hang from my locs.

No woman brushing
her hair and dander on me,
grooming in public.

No one like the man
sitting down, blocking me in,
brandishing penis.

I need to sit there:
In the designated seat
for the disabled.

If that seat’s not free,
I’ll stand up from Huntington
to Gallery Place.

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