He stands on his back porch and stares,
crosses his arms, flexes his forearms, glares,
he shoots a finger, just before he turns away,
yet another day of Ray just being Ray.
We used to speak,
at least once or twice a week.
Those times belong to a forgotten day,
when Ray was a less menacing sort of Ray.
He always had an angry edge,
and we wondered what might push him off the ledge,
but we just shook our heads and walked away,
saying it was just Ray being Ray.
When he bought into that crooked election deal,
like a professional wrestling fan believing it was real,
he grew more and more angry day after day,
and we tried to avoid Ray when he was being Ray.
When he started making threats and carrying a gun,
we all began acting like hunted animals on the run.
A backyard is no fun when you feel like prey,
worrying who Ray might shoot any given day.
When he started a fight at work,
because someone said Trump was a jerk,
we rejoiced when the cops took his gun away,
the days now done of Ray being dangerous Ray.
But that didn’t last –
amazing how quick 30 days went past.
They gave him back his gun with no delay,
and Ray went right back to being Ray,
because here in the U S of A,
we have laws that say,
normal folk have to live scared and hide away,
’cause Ray has the right to keep on being Ray.
| Copyright © 2021 by Paul Clark |
Powerful, Paul, thanks for this. Your poem’s roughness well suits its rocky subject matter.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, "Ray" has not - yet - actually shot anyone for voting for Biden, unlike the man in Texas who was just arrested this week for shooting a couple over political differences.
DeleteReminds me of the unsolved case in a small town--I think in Indiana--where the towns people had enough and killed the town bully. To this day, no one in the town will talk.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure this was really the best suggestion, but we can't always hide in fear, and we do have a right to express ourselves.
Nice poem--nice narrative--but Ray does not have the right to continue being Ray.
Thanks for writing this.
Michael, since I have in real-life dealt with the exact situations depicted in this poem for more than 10 months, I will have to correct you on one point: by law "Ray" does indeed have the right to keep on being "Ray" until he does something - like maybe shoot me or another neighbor - for which he can be arrested and incarcerated. As long as he only makes threats there is nothing anyone can legally do. "Ray" may not have a moral right, but he does have a legal right; the police have made that abundantly clear in their "handling" of this situation.
DeleteI have to agree that I'm not sure the way the towns people dealt with the bully was the best suggestion, but with our legal system seemingly so over-protective of problematic people instead of their likely victims, I can understand why the towns people took such drastic action. Not sure I would have understood a year ago, but after living under threat for months and watching my neighbors resort to carrying weapons when they mow their lawns, I understand now.
Paul I thank Ray is just a little misunderstood, and is just seeking love in the wrong places. Ask Ray if you can lay hands on him and pray. If he says yes, choke the life out of the SOB.
ReplyDelete