Devon Balwit
The Law Does Not Address This
for Jamel Dunn
It must’ve been the way I flailed,
my herky-jerk recalling their own
embarrassment stumbling down the long
perp-walk between lockers to the bray
of retard! Perhaps my cry for help
conjured the same gurgle as that of the kid
with the thick elastic band tethering
his glasses, the one they were desperate
to be picked before when choosing sides.
I recognized their type of bruise, the steel
grille that padlocks souls even before
their phones peer at me from the banks
of the retention pond. Sad my wife and kids
will see me drown. I know they’ll choke
back wanting to push each in and hold him
under. I hope, instead, they’ll choose
the harder way, to forgive. I am no help—
splashing through each repeat,
making no progress in learning to swim.
Devon Balwit is the author of A Brief Way to Identify a Body (Ursus Americanus Press, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Rattle, Poets Reading the News, The NewVerse News, The Ekphrastic Review, Peacock Journal, and more. For more of her poetry, reviews, collections, and chapbooks, visit her website, devonbalwitpoet.
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