-all the faces are watercolored-

I walked inside after arriving out front

before the door was unlocked for business.

It's a small, narrow gallery

with two walls hanging pictures for showing.

on the wall to the right, small paintings

of what appear to be representations of various totems.

colorful oil paintings.

on the wall to the left hang the faces

of men and women, arrested.

neither their names, nor

the charges filed against them are noted.
only a series of numbers identify one from another,
same as convicts locked-up at Walpole State Prison.

hanging:  mugshots of people whose faces

are watercolored.

watercolored mugshots taken from public records,

police blotters from who-knows-where,––

from all over the place it seems, now mugged in an artist's hand.

viewing these pictures in a single row across a bleached-

white wall was visually stunning and all-consuming.

I don’t remember how many, but I’d say about twenty,

hung in a line before my eyes; mugshots of those arrested,––
strangers, far removed from one another in life and yet here,
on this wall of misery, poverty and surrender, are gathered
as in a wretched family's outing, a panoramic reunion keepsake.

                uncle Joe,–– always a problem child.

                cousins Tina and Larisha,–– headed down the wrong path.

                and there’s Kip! straight “A” student. what a waste..

guilty as sin, the lot of them!

the judge should throw away the key.

now I see myself as Guardian ad Litem to the "Arrested".

yes! I'll rehabilitate two of the mugs
to hang on a wall in more comfortable surroundings.

a pleasant sort-of purgatory. easy time. a wall with a view of the water.

                I’ll take: #061317TW /Arrested!

                I’ll take: #120916V  / Arrested!


for Dick Dougherty
New Bedford, Massachusetts / 5 September, 2017