What I remember
What I see when he comes in
to meet me before his case arrives
is the throbbing in his head
above the left eye
a crevice that thumps
as if something alive were pushing out
Never stopping
when he tells me he only touched her breast
once A misunderstanding
that took him to Bridgewater
then to Taunton State for three years
On the outside he says
Of her blouse
The thick vein in his forehead throbs
with each word
and when there are no words
then he says nail clipper
says he took a nail clipper and dug a hole
in his right arm above the elbow
in his locked room
In his locked room he sank the tiny jaws
into his right arm
and severed the vein
with a little click
He says blood spurted and spurted
and spurted until an attendant saw the blood
spurting and took him to the infirmary
where they stitched the clipped vein
All of this in five maybe ten minutes
then he shakes my hand and walks out
of the six by eight cubicle I work in
into the bright light outside the window
three cubicles away
His case will arrive soon
Page(s) 126
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