[Critique Group 2] Leonard's belated comments on Alice's March sub

[Leonard Tuchyner]

This is an excellent  story of a confrontation of a police man 

with the highest  motives 

and a  homeless man. 

Who’s motives are not understood. 

I have some questions below thatoffer a different tilt  or interpretationto this encounter.

 

 

OnceUpon a St. Patrick’s Night

 

poemby Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

On a frigid St. Patrick’s night,

my Leader Dog Willow and I walk intothe dry air of the waning days of winter

to hear the howling high winds and

to feel the descent of thesingle-digit temperature.

so very close to the first day ofspring,

the wind chill will dip awkwardly tofive below—

a temperature and a torment thatmakes me wonder

about the homeless people trying tosurvive such a heralded night.

 

 

Heralded night. I like this. 

It is unconventional  and says something abut the  night’s notable quality.

 

I imagine 

an officer—

man or woman of whatever color—

wearing a badge

 

 

You say imagined. Is this realor  a made up incident.

 

that some people hate

without cause,

holstering a gun

which some despise

despite respect for laws.

 

 

 This   is close to a  political statement. 

It shows bias.

On this frigid, fragile St.Patrick’s night,

I hear the officer plead with thehomeless man

to minimize misery,

to choose survival at a shelter.

 

However, for a variety of unwisereasons,

the homeless man does not want tostep a nearly frozen foot

into any shelter

because for him,

time does not change with theseasons:

time is frozen, and

his heart is frozen.

He is numb to the cold,

numb to the helping hand,

numb to life.

He coughs a long, prolonged cough

that seems unending.

 

 

 This description of thecough does give credence to your statement that 

he is numb to life. 

But it does not say anyting aboutthe  reasons for his feelings.

The action of the officer 

will not make the late news tonight.

The pleading kindness

will be heard only by the angels.

Words that echo ,

bouncing back and forth

between cold brick buildings

cannot penetrate the lost, frozensoul.

 

The two individuals do not speak thesame language:

one speaks the language of theliving;

the other speaks the language of

the lost, the freezing, 

the hopeless, the dying.

 

 

Again a biased point of view.  

 

Still the officer tries tocommunicate,

respectfully waits for a response.

 

With no thought to a badge or gun,

the officer reaches out a glovedhand,

takes off one glove,

then the other,

and gently puts the gloves

onto the freezing hands

 of the homeless man.

 

 

By his actions of giving his glovesto the homeless man,  

the officer is indeed doing aheroic, even angelic, action. 

The homeless man accepts this act ofkindness, 

which goes to show that he is notnumb. 

I wonder if the officer was beingless than capable of doing his job, 

after giving away is gloves. 

 

Willow and I return inside

to the pleasant warmth of our home

to wonder about the homeless people

on this unusually cold St. Patrick’snight

when I will pray

to St. Patrick and all who willlisten 

for the homeless

and for the officers.




 
 
Leonard I. Tuchyner, Author
 
https://www.dldbooks.com/tuchyner/

 
  
 
 

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