Jury Duty

The System
from the other side:
I decide.
He, Mr. Sir,
sits in the box and talks,
easily rattled
by the small strutting cock
taking a walk
through Mr. Sir's memory.
Strutting Cock could easily rattle me
Strutting Cock quibbles over time,
distance,
and several 12 ounce beers:
some drunk, some not.
Strutting Cock cheers:
Mr. Sir cannot remember what he hears.
Mr. Sir, of minimum wage,
plus overtime to survive,
took a day in winter to play,
stalk deer,
shoot a buck or two,
drink a beer or two,
eat bologna,
listen to his Sony.
He doesn't buy stock,
he hauls sheet rock.
He needs a January day to play.

THE CASE

Night is drawing near.
Load up the gear,
load up the deer,
one nephew,
one cousin,
take them all home
down a lonely Virginia road.
"This car or truck,
I cannot remember,
or do not know,
John Doe
came from no where
onto my side of the road.
I slowed.
I jerked,
no---snatched,
no---turned the wheel to the right
that early night.
Wheels in the ditch,
there was no way to switch.
The tree was the only break I can recall.
I did not work from then until spring.
Rescue squads,
hospitals,
police,
doctors, lots of doctors,
hung around me like flies
taking notes
with dollar bills in their eyes.
Finally the lawyers
found out where I was living.
They all wanted my money.
My friends say,
"Sonny, you have to sue John Doe."
So, I am here in the city,
come up from Dinwiddie,
to sue my own insurance company.
They want me drunk on two beers.

INITIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JURY

Over and over they say to us in The Box,
"Don't worry,
no hurry,
no one will be hurt here,
no one to punish,
no criminal element exists,
just decide on the money,
go outside where it is still sunny,
then go on home to supper and your Honey."

COUNCILORS

The lawyers flanking Mr. Sir
are not prepared, I'd say.
Oh, photographs for sure,
objections are sustained,
but of a truth, I know
they forgot to show
Mr. Sir his deposition
making him memorize every
jot, line,
and preposition.

LUNCH BREAK

I see them in there,
through the crack in the door.
All alone in vulture pecking order.
No jury,
no judge.
Just three attorneys
pecking through the papers,
confidently, diligently,
seeking a clean settlement
for their pockets
clarifying what Mr. Sir meant.
Cementing their individual final arguments,
their presentation packets.
"It's getting late,
lets clear the docket."

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

It's clear to this member of the jury
that all three lawyers
from both sides
will walk with the money.
Even though Mr. Sir's doctor said,
"He talked to me coherently."
But not Mr. Sir and me,
at twenty dollars per diem.
We are chosen this day to decide
just who will have Mr. Sir's hide,
It's difficult,
oh, so very difficult,
to get a decision from me
when I feel like I'm being taken
on an insurance ride.
The charge is:
two beers and one dead pine tree.

WAGES

For the day I received my state pay,
twenty pieces of devalued silver.
Mr. Sonny Sir got all the doctors paid
for the services they rendered.
And then a stroke of luck,
we gave Sonny Sir a brand new pick-up truck.
There was a silent reward
that was passed out that day.
A white jury,
spoon fed all white testimony;
did not believe that Mr. Sir
was reckless
nor was he drunk.
And that is how Mr. Sir
came to get all his bills paid
and a new pick-up truck to haul sheet rock.

Not Guilty, Your Honor.