its raining in Anacostia

It’s raining in Anacostia 

All the street corner prophets on

The block of

Good Hope Road

Have traded sermons and

Daps

For umbrellas

And quick steps

No one wants to get caught in the rain

We have seen too much of it

So we scurry

Off to places unknown

Cuss metro buses

A8 and W6

Slower

On streets

Lines with potholes

Promises

And sleek from the wetness

Of it all

Tears blend into rain drops

Maybe it’s raining

Rain knows

We can’t be insular

 Isolated

Bound by unspoken lines

And rivers forever

There is development going up

St. Elizabeth’s East

And housing prices rising

On the horizon

It’s raining in Anacostia

Quiet today

Solemn for is

What has been?

And what is coming