May 25, 2020
Denise Alden
Erasure poem from the transcript of the encounter
between Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper
in Central Park
Stop. I’m asking you to stop.
Don’t come close to me.
Phone pictures of me, the cop.
An African-American life:
there’s a man threatening
my African-American self.
I can’t.
I’m threatened by a man.
Don’t.
About Denise Alden
Denise Alden lives and writes in the Twin Cities. Some of her work can be found online at Scalawag Magazine, Hecate Magazine and forthcoming in The Apeiron Review.