Stricken

We’re sitting in Uncle Sam’s Subs, splitting

a cheesesteak, when Shelley says:

I think I should buy a gun.

I look up at her puffy face, and she’s staring,

her hands shaking. On medication for

schizophrenia, she’s serious.

I say, Tell me why you need a gun.

Her voice getting louder: You know why.

No, no I don’t, I say.

In case I need it. I might need it to shoot somebody.

I give her a hard look — You don’t need a gun.

She stares back: You might be after me.

I don’t know what to say — I never know what to say.

I know it’s not her speaking, but it’s my friend,

far away in some other stricken mind.

What’s it like to know you’re right/

you’re in danger — 

and the world says no?

Every woman I know has lived that.

I say: I would never hurt you. I’m not a threat to you.

She laughs, says, Well, you might be.

The laughing scares me.

I want out of this place,

this sub shop, to walk away,

knowing she can’t walk out of her mind, leave

the illness behind. The long minutes,

the long, long minutes. She says, What do you think?

take a walk, I say.

What about the gun?

Let’s talk about it later, I say,

not knowing a thing.

Not knowing a goddamn thing.