Kimberly O'Connor

This poem is from Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen. Read it here.

The quotation I chose as a title for this post is from the last section of the poem, when the trauma counselor the speaker has an appointment with viciously orders her to leave when she rings the bell for her appointment. The therapist does not realize that she is there for an appointment, and is afraid of her, because she is black.