Harassment: The Sermon on the Mound in Reverse

 This woman pulls up in an SUV 
to the parking lot behind 
the parking garage 
where a mostly-unvaried 
number of us get drunk 
and smoke joints 
to chase away the boredom 
of not trying harder, 
or the inevitable difficulties 
of trying harder. 

She is not the only person 
in Poughkeepsie 
to do something like this. 

But where others would 
offer us services for rehabilitation 
or to pass the word along concerning 
free clothing or homecooked meals 
when and where, this woman 
has made the effort to carefully 
memorize the history of another's 
physical deterioration, and how it 
led, through faith and prayer, to her 
witnessing 
the awesome healing power 
of our city's best friend: Jesus. 

So...while the others 
I share beer and pot and vodka with 
sat demurely tolerating this person, 
I took it for as long as I could 
before picking up my nearly-full 
can and moving to the parking garage, 
and waited for her to leave. 

I returned about ten minutes later, 
when we resumed listening to music 
on my cellphone, and talking shit. 

***