Investigating the Witness
Have to tell you I
really wanted to send you a letter
O skinny boy
of wise smile
& frightened eyes.
In the locked room
of the California Youth Authority
you clutched my business
card like it was
your mama's breast
fighting your way through
my tough questions
pacing back and forth
like a trapped panther
changing your story
again and again.
Finally you smiled
conceding my win
& said: here's the truth.
This is what really happenened.
You were not a witness after all
but a participant
to the crime.
Yeah you broke
into the school
stole the computers
wrecked the place.
Okay you said so
now what.
You were already doing time
You were thirteen
& got seven years
for stealing roses
for your girlfriend
They didn't know what else
to do with you so
they put you here in CYA
where the toughest & oldest
men are twenty-five.
You were the youngest
of the cool-eyed cat boys
& you were shaking.
What they gonna do to me
you whispered.
I want to get outta here.
They do things to you
in here.
You held my card
& your eyes said
Help me
or write me
or something.
I said keep in touch
knowing this might be
the last time
you asked anyone
for anything.
Outside
the metal door clanged shut
I breathed the fresh air
looked back at the wall
wondered what you'd be like
in seven years
& shuddered
knowing I was not a witness
but a participant
to the crime.
-Lisa Gale Garrigues
from Sky Full of Holes, Lizard Blue Press