He approaches you like a tight ball of rubber
bands.
Lacking a smile, he greets you with terse
resentment.
Like the liquid green hue of a flame’s stubborn
root,
his eyes shine acid, stinging you with their
heat.
And you wonder what goes on behind such cruel
sockets:
Does he resent you for the person you remind
him of?
He dismisses your concerns, saying that the
stain of words,
splashed across your day, are the least
invasive of violations.
He claims that the intruder had had every right
to enter-
that you are only one side of two stories, you on
the inside.
He is on the outside and disinterested in your
irrelevance,
claiming ironically that your fears are not against the
law.
And admonishes you for finding fault with the demon
who was once "harmless" but suddenly spells
trouble.
As he dissects your heart with his doubting
gaze,
you realize that he is siding with the enemy.
You are up against an ugly beast who hides
behind his badge
with all of his stout, bulging, musclebound
insecurity.
You face him and fight him, and while you don’t
win,
you come out even, retreating with a sharp gem
of knowledge.
Justice. To be served on seedy rye, with
remorse on the side.
And a heavy dose of reality to wash it all down.
Jennifer Burnside
7/28/2014
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