Raindogblue

Noise

 

On a welfare check, off the Breakers, County Mental Health asked a schizophrenic subject

if he knew why I was taking him to the hospital?

 

He answered, "My brain is messed up because of the noise in my head." 

 

 

Forensics Sticker

 

 

 

 

 

Not a Rat

 

 

I can tell he’s a tweaker. His face is a skull, skin pulled tight over bone, leaving hollow eyes that seed of want. He’s sitting on retain wall. His back is bent like a question.

In the down pour, in the dark, in the South Village by the river, he’s answering none of mine save for that he’s been stabbed in the back. The blow missed his heart, his lungs, his spine. The wound is four and half inches deep, two and a half inches wide. 

Breathing in short gasps, he still plays the name game, says, he doesn’t know anything. He’s not being rude, but he’s not a rat. 

I follow his ambulance up to the ER and win the game. He’s hot with two big wants for felony theft, meth and heroin. The docs sew him up, give him two Advil, and release him to me. 

 

 

 

 

 

A Bite

 

 

After dark, in the Breakers, a woman

called dispatch to report she had bit

her domestic partner. She was surprised

to be arrested and transported to jail. 

 

 

 

From Bench to Formal

 

This morning, I appeared as a witness

on a probation violation.

 

The mope spent 14 days in jail

for breaking the no contact order.

 

He told the judge he'd been using meth

and marijuana in the last two days. 

 

After hearing the case, the judge changed

the man's probation for bench to formal.

 

 

Slumber

 

I'm asleep. I should be asleep.

 

Someone is calling my name. 

I wake enough to listen. 

It's my wife.

 

Why is she talking to me?

It's her gentle voice. 

She's trying to wake me up.

Why is she trying to wake me up?  

I open an eye.

It's dark.

It's 7:04 AM.

 

I've had four hours of sleep.

Why is she trying to wake me. 

I'm tired.

The bed is warm.

The snake in my head

is telling me,

"Ignore her.

Go back to sleep."

I want to listen.

I want to sleep,

and then, I think,

"Trust your wife.

She's here for a reason."

Right. 

I have court:

an assault trial.

 

A drunk, naked, stripper

punched a fireman. 

 

Courts a go.

 

I banish the snake

and launch out of bed. 

Winter in the High Desert

 

 

 

 

 

Seniority

 

With Snake Handler retired and G.

in Telephone Reporting with an injury,

I am number 3 on the shift for seniority.

 

 

Relativity

 

Tonight, I asked a woman,

How much have you had to drink tonight?

 

She replied, "Not much?"

 

How much is that?

 

She pointed to an 8 ounce glass

of Irish whiskey and said,

"Only three or four."

 

 

 

The Message

 

Yesterday, on a gravel avenue in the South Village,

I made a death notification for another agency. 

 

The woman answered the door

before I walked up her steps.

She smiled, hoping I was asking directions,

but knew my arrival was an ill portent.