the law
an Italian woman called the law on me. it came in the form of an sfpd officer who introduced himself as such, as if the uniform were not a dead give-away. he looked all of 12.
“align” I’d said.
“not a line” she corrected, “a law.”
“a low?” I asked.
“no! law!” she repeated, spelling L A W. “you call forth the law.”
apparently.
she stung with just enough venom to get my attention.
I called my friend.
“you’ve been initiated” she said.
this particular law concerns covering your backside, and only a friend can do that.
the law becomes the law by being broken.
“you misunderstood” I told her. When I said align, I meant to be in accord.
“no!” she repeated. “you are so superficial—you in san francisco and the east bay—its very important how you speak, what words you use. in italy, we study this.”
I resisted.
then she sent me the law.
he wrote me up. he told me to fix it.
fisticuffs: the given is what we suffer. it has to do with fixing.
as color fixed in dye
a junkie’s
difficult or awkward situation
a position determined from the bearings of two or more points
[ML. fixare, to fix; fixus, pp of figere, to fasten, attach; for IE. base see /FINISH]
5. to make rigid.
8. to reach a decision about
10. to repair
12. prepare and cook
14. to punish
15. to make solid or nonvolatile
16. to make permanent
Before Job, the Buddha wondered about suffering. some mystics take suffering as its own reward. of the many words for suffering, one is exile. in a talk on Edward Said entitled “the house is past” Dr. Mohamed Salama said “nation” is the opposite of exile. nation is another word for suffering. as is house or home.
“exile. who is not in exile.”
“the occupiers are not in exile.”
“but isn’t occupation a form of ‘leaving behind’?”
“what must be left behind in order to occupy?”
“knowledge of the rift between body and place.”
protesting recent legal attacks on undocumented workers, an activist held up her wrists:
“if helping them is a crime” she said, “then put the cuffs on right now.”
thus she demonstrated voluntary suffering on behalf of another.
all suffering is written in the body; likewise the denial of suffering. the given is what we suffer.
the minute you try to fix something you are messing with the law.
