Tuesday, November 29, 2022

guilty beyond a reasonable doubt

i'm picked for jury duty,
which surprises me.
obviously they don't know anything
about me.
but it should be fun.
i study up the night before
by watching the movie
twelve angry men.
i yearn to be Henry Fonda,
the one holdout
on a murder case, who
gets to the truth.
but the case is about a
wife who drives her husband
crazy to the point
where he
checks himself into
a psych ward at Belleview
and undergoes
electro-shock treatment
to regain his stability.
right off the bat
i find her guilty of betrayal,
gaslighting,
triangulation,
giving him the silent
treatment and withholding
sex.
making salmon seven days
a week, would
drive anyone nuts.
unfortunately there's eleven
women on the jury,
and i'm the only man.
the only hold out who
finds the woman guilty.
i look around and see the women
jurists
cutting open
avocados and eating
carrot sticks for lunch, sipping
lemon water.
i'm Henry Fonda.  it's going
to be a long long
deliberation.

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