A. E. Wynter is a Black, Jamaican-descended writer and editor from New York. She is also a community organizer and currently lives in Saint Paul, MN where she has curated multimedia art exhibits, writing workshops, and readings, among other events. Wynter has received multiple grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and was a fiction fellow in the 2021-2022 Loft Mentor Series. Winner of the 53rd New Millennium Award for Poetry and The Florida Review 2024 Editors' Award in Poetry, her poems have also appeared or are forthcoming in West Trade Review and Water~Stone Review. Wynter was a 2023 resident at the Carolyn Moore Writers Residency.
Track One (Kick, Push III)
featuring Lupe Fiasco
Anybody, everybody watchin’ us here—two Black kids full throttling down the blacktop. Yeah,
good pavement a luxury—so we took it—out in Garden City where they whitestep sidelook.
Grinds up a soul—being too dark for the garden—still we coast—roll—cause we ain’t mad at
the world yet—just searchin’—skatin’ til the cops called—scared lady clutchin’ purse—&what
world wouldn’t be afraid—the audacity of a blackbodyinflight—me & my brother glide like we
was born to never touch the road—they hate the freedom of it—they can’t help wonderin’ did
theirs too?—look, garden bodies too selfbound to fly—but me & my brother we Kick, Push, we
uh-huh-uh-huh in our headphones, we free wheelin’, we a sound cruise—how Saturdays came
and went—we lost half a day outside ourselves—healin’—we skate loose the brick weight of a
they, of a million eyes scowlin’—blue lights ride & we ghost the garden quietly—praise the long
four hours before hunger hits—ma yellin’ if you in, stay in—we head home blessin’ the way
wheels sound on pavement—this heaven’s work—come Sunday, we back again—where we from
wouldn’t need no smooth streets—our bikes leaping potholes—today, a whole hood gettin’ dirty.
Take us to collect our scars—reclaim these bodies—we playing chicken on bikes—call us ghetto,
them driveby outsiders—but we know what it takes to lift a darkness—the weight of Black kids.
There, down the block, see us BMX collidin’—that’s us shaking loose our wings—taking off—
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Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.
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