i read "smile!" for the first time in 2003 and this was one of the poems from the collection that stayed with me; it's got plenty to say about not only law enforcement and lawyers, but about race/class and access. i won't say more for now-- reading someone's commentary right before a piece always shapes my experience of it far too much.
What Happened This Week
(May 1, 1992)David didn't come to school Tuesday,
the day his essay was due.
Instead the police showed up --
a Dragnet team -- asking if anyone
had seen him since Friday.
The class huddled at the implications
of the words: missing person.
David, eighteen, too old for milk cartons,
but just ripe for the morgue
and a numbered tag around his bare toe.
...
read the rest!
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