DC PLACES ISSUE Fred Joiner   SONG FOR ANACOSTIA The 94 hums up the rough side of Stanton. Washington View's open windows blare drums in the pocket, the breakdown of the perfect groove. The 90 salsas across town into the forgotten bottom of DC, a car alarm echoes its protest on MLK two porch griots wail their pain and pity. On the corner, two preachers can be heard through the sanctuary walls, one reading scripture, the other raptured in a moan. The smell of last night's first drink poured out in a crooning ballad for the missed and missing ..............a song for a father, a song for a mother unchilded, a song for a child playing ahead of the beat, a nursery rhyme for every teddy bear rooted at a street sign. This is the sound of blues breaking the broken, back together; the sound of chaos, organizing; the sound of breath forming words in vinyl's backspin these are the sounds gathered in blood, shed for remission of silence and sadness. Fred Joiner is a poet living in Washington, DC's Historic Anacostia neighborhod. He works as a Systems Administrator for a small progressive consulting company. His forthcoming still untitled chapbook will be self-published this year.   Published in Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 2006.   To read more by this author: Fred Joiner: Audio Issue Fred Joiner: The Wartime Issue Fred Joiner