[EVIDENCE]
Detectives came to my job to take it.
In the court documents, it was high-
lighted in yellow. Everything had an
easy definition. A matter of fact con-
fined to paper with black, inky light.
Law, justice, claim; crime in degrees.
The material fact of the containment
what it means to be locked into a mo-
ment that will not die. It was the last
remnant of him and I, got a new one
for twice the price. Believe me, I’m a
champion of all that could have been.
A live animal with blood in her teeth.
MOON-STRUCK
You don’t know a wolf until
the moon rises, hot like an iron,
and stutters everything below with
light. That man, there was so much
woods inside him, it got loose.
That night, all I wanted was to be
lit up. He promised not to bleed me.
And isn’t that the thing about a wolf?
Wearing skin you think you know.
All I could do was look at the moon,
I woke up an animal caught between
the jaws of a meaner animal.
Isn’t that the thing about illumination?
I wanted to change my life,
but couldn’t. Not at that hour.
[EVIDENCE]
The boys next door play in the dark
as the reporting officer asks me about
my body, his body, the mechanics of an
undoing. The officer stands with one
foot inside, one foot out, the door wiry
and open too wide. I try to whisper
so that the boys don’t hear, but he barks
at me to speak up. I learned the world
when I was young. Still, I was not prepared.
When I see the note the officer wrote,
I can barely make out any solid lines.
Of course, it all meant nothing to him.
But, to me? The boys? The night?
