Proof of Life by Jasen Sousa

Proof of Life

We start off at Somerville Hospital.

“To get into detox you need

a Massachusetts ID,” says the lady

with the huge tits at check-in.

He has his social security card

and birth certificate, but no MASS ID.

He’s 21 and been in and out of jail

since 16.

Never took a permit test, let alone

a driver’s test.

We arrive at the mall.

Another large woman with bent glasses

at the RMV in the Cambridgeside Galleria tells us,

“We only renew licenses here,

we don’t process ID’s.”

All that time in line for nothing.

We arrive at the larger RMV in Watertown.

We wait in line for a half hour

before we get the form.

While we sit filling this thing out,

a woman with a cast on her arm

that has no signatures

wants to make sure we have all the proper forms.

He has a birth certificate,

and a social security card, 

but no proof of address.

They don’t care 

that my friend

has been in and out of jail,

and homeless,

sleeping at a friend’s house

here and there.

We still wait because we think

we can convince the person.

Like we are at a deli

waiting for some meat, we wait and watch 

for almost two hours as the numbers crawl

from 49 to 110.

We approach the man,

tie undone,

pen protector,

a few pieces of hair

slicked to the side.

“I don’t make the rules, sorry.”

We go to another RMV in Melrose

and wait for a good hour, standing against a wall

before we get a ticket.

He gets his MASS ID.

The day is over.

Can’t check into detox

until morning because the cut off time is 3 P.M.

I drop him off at a Dunkin Donuts

as I head to work, and wonder

if he will stay clean for the night?

First Published

in

Somewhere Lost

Copyright © 2011 by Jasen Sousa

Copyright © All Rights Reserved by J-Rock Publishing

Library of Congress

Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN  978-0-9714926-7-7