Susan Barry-Schulz

BODY LANGUAGE

What about this guy in the white Mazda
who pulls up behind me too fast
on Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx,
skidding cock-eyed into my rear bumper
and somehow, in the time it takes me
to hop out and walk around back,
throws it into reverse
just enough

and as I stand there,
chin out/arms to the side/elbows bent/palms to the sky—
the espresso bronze finish
of my Buick's back fender
speckled now with flecks of fresh white paint—

gets out and closes the driver’s side door
chin tucked/arms raised/shoulders shrugged/palms facing forward
and says

I never touched, I never touched

and walks away without
a second look?


Susan reads "Body Language":



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Susan confesses: "This poem was inspired by true events and the question that I faced afterwards; 'Why didn’t you report it?' I wanted to explore how place and gender might influence our response. I am also interested in the way our body postures and gestures inform our dialogue. Plus I wondered what would it be like to be that guy?"

SUSAN BARRY-SCHULZ has been a practicing Physical Therapist/Healthcare Coordinator in Westchester for many years. Her writing has been published in the Journal News, the recent Barrelhouse POPLove! Series and in The Wild Word. She is a member of the Hudson Valley Writer's Center and the Mahopac Poetry Group. She grew up outside of Buffalo and now lives in a lake neighborhood in Putnam County, New York with her husband and one or more of her 3 adult children. It all depends.