outside General today, a fight broke out
whack! hit on the head, one to the other
"you mother-fucker you, listen up!"
and unthinkingly, i get between them
20 year old girl--you know society's rules [it's foolish to intervene]
"hey man, calm down, peace out"
he rounds on me, and now calls me the mother-fucker
i step back, whisper prayers in tongues
"why don't you just call the cops then?" he screams
logic doesn't bode well with the violently drunk
[so should some avoid liquor altogether?]
a cop car drives by and he runs into the busy street, flagging it angrily
"i feel out of my body," christie says beside me
at the end, the cop approaches me
"Would you like me to lock him up, ma'am? Did you feel threatened? Should I take him to jail for the night?"
"No, no, I didn't feel threatened; he just cursed at me."
The cop didn't even ask what happened, completely ignored the hit man's side of the story
[being homeless and drunk and Spanish-speaking doesn't get you far, even when you're mildly assaulted]
"Reinas, reinas," the man says to us: Queens
we smile awkwardly, i wish he wouldn't call us that
and my privilege is power [the power to decide outcomes?!]
and, in my feminity, my privilege [white and a student and employed by the hospital]--
my privilege is protection.
2 comments:
Cari, you have a beautiful mind and express it so well, I've really enjoyed reading your posts.
It is an imago Dei I see in you (one of many): this correspondence to the character of God (that being inherent beauty and then the real, raw and soul-wrenchingly awesome expression of that beauty as the word becomes flesh) so too I see in you such inherent depth of beauty and vivid honest expression, both in word and deed. Keep it up, don't stop. Keep loving, keep writing, keep doing what you're doing, it's contagious.
btw...the *(one of many)* refers to that being one of many divine sparks I see in you. Just in case you were unsure about that :-)
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