Deonte Osayande

The Paranoia Says the Helicopter Searches For Me

As the announcement
of the training
exercise on campus
for the police force comes
into my classroom and I joke
about the threat, about
my blood pressure as if
there wasn’t a shooting
at a community college
weeks before, as if I weren’t
the same complexion as the targets
cops use at their shooting ranges.

Deonte Osayande is a former track and field sprinter and writer from Detroit, Mi.