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