Photographs

By the time the trial ended
I didn't know
whether the crime
was the threat
she said he made,

or merely the scary homeless
ranting fear
he embodied.

I suppose she was right,
how when he reached in his pocket
it might have been a gun or knife or something,

but fact was
he pulled out a camera,
not a weapon,

that he used
to remember
the angry people
worth staying away from
no matter what.

She'd earned that honor
by calling the cops
and saying he threatened
to hurt her.

Any fool could see
that was bullshit,

except the prosecutor.

Which made for two
smug pissed-off people
trying to show
how dangerous
and crazy
he was.

In the end none of this mattered.
It's the jury that calls the balls and strikes
and they sent him home not guilty
after about ten minutes,

though no one felt that good
about anything.

The prosecutor says it just proves
how stupid the public is;

the woman still thinks
there's a knife in a pocket
with her name on it,

and my guy
still knows
there's folks
out to get him
just for being
what he can't help.