Institutionalized

[Philatone]

V. 4

With serifs reserved for business and obituaries,
an unarmed robber is caught in section B
in an idling cab, rear door unlocked, to receive the gift of law,
its licensed hand on his wrists.

The passenger taken from the car, the driver relates the silence
he and the thief exchanged even as cruisers approached;

how they sat a row apart like boys observing a service,
one ready to leave before communion, the other content to watch
the ceremony before him, the flicker of mounting candles,
the brush of a savior falling over open palms.





v. 3 again, complete adjustment

With serifs reserved for business and obituaries,
the report emerges. An unarmed robbery is buried in section B
where a cab idles in a parking lot despite the gallop of sirens,
the rear door already unlocked to receive the law,
its reach for the handle, and pull.

His passenger taken from the car, the driver relates the silence
he and the thief exchanged even as cruisers approached;

how they sat a row apart, like boys observing a service,
one ready to leave before communion, the other content to watch
the ceremony before him, the flicker of mounting candles,
the brush of a savior against open palms,
the scent of home too strong to want to soar.








v2. entire piece has been adjusted

As sirens gallop closer
and cruisers charge the cab
idling in the lot,

unlock the checkered door
to receive the law,
the handcuffs on belt rings,

the navy uniforms,
the reach for the handle,
the pull. The cabdriver

waits for directions,
unlike the lone cashier
who scrambled for the key

to open the locked till
the minute she was told;
but what order is there

to give when home takes no
deliveries, save those
ushered in black and white?






V. 1
An uncle was found in a cab
parked by the drive-thru. The camera said
he had entered, hiding a lump under his hoodie
near his chest: an arm mistaken for aluminum,
a covered fist for a loaded barrel,
a prayer for home
under a demand for cash.

The taxi, outside, waited for directions
to leave

even as the passenger returned
and sirens galloped closer.
Even as cruisers charged the exit
and he unlocked the door to receive the law,
eyeing handcuffs fastened on the belt rings
of blue uniforms that reached the handle
and pulled,

the taxi, outside, waited for directions
to leave.