stuck on stupid
pencilnarrow little arm
pencilnarrow little body
yanked with just less than sufficient force
and vehemence to snap it in two
and for what crime
that of being maybefour and
less than utterly instantaneously compliant with
the snarled directives of his glowering mama
a modern goddess of insane fertility
the mother at 21 of 3
the two older of whom have on their faces
the look of one who has witnessed great horror
but when mama snarls
you stuck on stupid today?
and nearly jerks little jamal’s arm free of its mooring
in exasperation
the most frightening part of the whole scene
is jamal’s failure to cry
hel’s been here done this
too often for that
indecision paralyzes us witnesses we
think every one of us of
upbraiding the monster
who in fairness we easily imagine to
have been treated identically
when she was herself pencilnarrow
our dread being that out of our vision
her embarrassment and shame
if she’s not too far gone to feel them
will turn to rage and not only jamal
but his siblings too will rue the
moment we did the right thing and spoke up
and so
feeling collaborators
we remain mum and resume our marketing and
imagine a future for jamal of athletic glory of
career rushing records and countless backboards shattered
and corporations paying him fortunes to
smile his luminous irresistible smile on their behalves
when hel’s not home pushing his woman down a
flight of stairs
we have read that mrs. simpson
abandoned by her husband and knowing no other way
brooked no rebelliousness from any of her three
even the one with rickets
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