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a drug task-force detective
calls me
right away
i hear in his voice
he still believes in what he's doing:
'been on your parolee
over a month
pulled him over today
2.5 grams of crack cocaine
under the driver's seat
taking him to polk county jail now'
2.5 grams of crack cocaine
sounds pernicious
like the barrel of a gun
shoved down your throat
but take 2 almonds
bite a 3rd in half
drop them on a kitchen scale
there you go
his wife calls next
crocodile tears?
may-probably
it's all a bit shimmery
and quicksilver now
the only ineluctable
is that the bureaucracy has been turned on
he's on parole
there will be no bond
he'll sit in jail for the
next 3-4 months
while the county attorney hangs a
ludicrous sentence
over his head
he will lose his job
his apartment
who knows about the wife
i pull his paper file out of the active queue
walk over to the corner of my office
pull open the metal filing cabinet
and slide it behind the tab marked
'limbo.'