I hereby swear peinarse to brush oneself (implied but not
explicit one’s hair) the information this statement contains
is true and accurate as in me peino I brush (my hair) or se
peina su pelo largo y oscuro to the height of my ability she
brushes her long dark hair I admit my limits and my own smoke
wispy hair needs no comb no brush unlike the confusing se
peinan el pelo either they brush their hair of the reflexive
they brush each other’s hair how do I know the difference
if I do not watch the inherent flaws of eye-witness testimony
encumber me inasmuch as they make porters of us all how do
I fix what I am como quiero decirlo listing perhaps arreglar
1 COMPONER: to repair to fix as in I brushed aside concerns
and compuse la nariz después de me chingaron los tres [past
completed] my hair at the time a mid-point between the lengths
I would go to avoid a barber and fading today but in res judicata
they fucked me up and I fixed my broken nose what do I mean
to say breve corto y bajo three adjective Spanish lesson as
in el bajo con pelo corto me chingó lo mas pero me duele solo
momento breve for life is brief enough and fixed spring-summer
night still in school after work I parked [past] in front
of my friend’s house (nos encontramos otra vez en la
carcel) I fixed my hair quiero decir I brushed it from my
eyes peinar I swear all of this is true and real and I have
bled from my nose accurately eight inches of gauze bracing
surgically repaired sinuses hobbled to three senses I’m lucky
to have any the organic construction of events coiffed to
perfection my friend and I we met again in prison translated
idioms rendered meaningless jodido que chinga I comb memory
for a reason [present] me peino his brother and two others
one I cannot recall another reference to hair the situation
grew hirsute their knuckles brushed flesh from the Latin
hirsutus [informal risky dangerous perilous hazardous tricky
and just as informal dicey] a preponderance of the evidence
shaves close to the truth a reasonable person more likely
than not would determine my guilt ignorance of an offense
mitigates nothing my mom drove me to the emergency room and
the doctor quoted Hemingway jodido where he cut his curses
in English he boldly wrote the Spanish
Sean J. White arrived to prison in 1997 at the age of nineteen. His short fiction and poetry have appeared in a number of journals, most recently Muse Literary Journal, Florida Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Rosebud Magazine. He has received awards from PEN America’s Writing Awards for Prisoners several times in various genres. A graphic novel, Tales of Relatable Cynicism, was recently published.
Photo by Kevin Doncaster on Foter.com / CC BY