Читать книгу Wicked Enchantment - Wanda Coleman - Страница 21

my heart comes thru my skin

they’ve snatched my kids

if the police catch me home i’m sunk

(when handcuffed the first and greatest itch

is my nose)

better find some place to spend the night

the car

sleep behind the wheel behind the

apartment building in winter night cold

doors locked

i wake but the scream goes on

can’t tell mama about this

crimester. only crime i’m guilty of trying to

play alice straight in crookedland

money bitch. can’t get hold of it

if the cops stop me it’s jail without bail

drive. careful. one eye on the road

one eye on the rear view. one eye on tomorrow

help	county hospital psycho ward
	the gay psychiatrist tells me “write a book”
	my employer saves my neck cuz it’s his wallet
	his attorney thinks i’m a cut above scum
	the foster mother smiles beneath her black bouffant wig
	and tells me my children are well behaved

court	the judge is black-robed and pleasant
	nods. extenuating circumstance (so rare to see
	a nigger here on somethin’ other than homicide dope
	prostitution rape robbery)
	yes
	the records are sealed

they almost took me out this time

provide he said. provide

the condition of my release/getting them back

in my custody

i must provide (try to make a dollar outta 15¢)

i will. with difficulty

but i will