Читать книгу The Dream in the Next Body - Gabeba Baderoon - Страница 5

Witness

Mr Dunn arrives early in the white morning

to clear the driveway of snow.

He heaves and snarls with the machine

biting into the mounds, pushing, fighting.

His truck says Masonry on the side.

In summer he hauls bricks and rocks and cement.

When he sees me, Mr Dunn averts

his eyes, asks if my husband is home.

I leave them standing

at the threshold.

Cops caught me D.U.I.

Didn’t even have an accident.

Went through

that bad patch last year.

Nothing for 12 years

and then they catch you.

He asks for a letter of support,

a witness to his character.

He writes down the address,

the correct way to spell Dunn,

the judge’s name.

In his hand the pencil breaks three times.

My husband keeps his eyes on the words,

reads them aloud.

If I can’t do the snow this year

I’ll get someone to do it at the same price, or

I’ll make up the difference

when I get out.

From the passage, I hear

what men give each other,

silence to lean their bodies against.