JURY DUTY



Sixty years too late
     I slump over
ancient oak furniture,
	pebble-smoothed by generations of
        sweating palms,
in dingy, white-bricked basement,
	jury holding area,
Dedham Court,  High St.,  1987.

Dressed in tie and jacket disguise,
       I stare through barred windows,
      	    listen for your footsteps overhead.

Oh,  Nick and Bart, I would save you!
       Speeding down Rt. 1,
	 past Dedham Mall,
	 past Toys R Us,
	 past Levitz forever furniture sale,

hairpin turn into parking lot,
	vault through Toyota window,
        bolt into courthouse,
	 wait my turn, barely,
pacing fighter, straining
    for bell, for intercom, for chalk-screech 
	voice of court officer, or
	    menacing, painted, pointing fingernail.

Up the stairs I fly!
	Throw open the doors of injustice!
	Demand instant impanelment of myself!
	 (Or would I be chosen by chance:  dungarees, beard
	            unnoticed?)


And then, then, oh wonderful then:
	Lone hold-out!
	Hung jury!
	Beatific smile!	 

	as Judge Thayer sputters,
	                                              foams--
	                                                                   helpless,
	          eyes bullseyes
	                                         of rage.



 *	 *    *

On green peeling wall,
       only xerox clipping remembers:

	"60 YEARS AGO--SACCO AND VANZETTI--NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE"
	                               (8/24/87)

*	 *     *


It would have been so easy:
         I would have done it for you,
	                                     happily,
	    right upstairs,

                       where they only took your lives,

but too many red lights,
       too much history in the way.



Dedham Court where
Sacco & Vanzetti were convicted
Dedham, Mass.
October 19, 1987
    

All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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