Synopsis:

I recall an image of my policeman father's arsenal...particularly the Sap...and recall memories of my father as well.

Book Excerpt:

He was an unimpressive cop, my father, easygoing, kind and undone. Among his arsenal was the Sap. It shared his belt…cuffs, claw, flashlight, pistol, Sap. I fondled it to understand the shape and purpose…woven black leather the texture of snakeskin, an illusion of movement in my small palm, the weight of it clouding the issue. Ten inches long, loop dangling, waiting for a man's wrist, the narrow, flexing stem smelled of saddle soap and sweat. It groaned slightly as I torqued the sinew of it. The business end growing from the stem, blossomed into a menacing buckshot loaded cyst. The head, smooth as glass, gave no hint of lethal density packed beneath the rounded tip, shining like the toe of a new shoe. I once saw him dispatch a drunk with a tap of the Sap to the temple.He was an unimpressive cop, my father, easygoing, kind and undone. Among his arsenal was the Sap. It shared his belt...cuffs, claw, flashlight, pistol, Sap. I fondled it to understand the shape and purpose...woven black leather the texture of snakeskin, an illusion of movement in my small palm, the weight of it clouding the issue. Ten inches long, loop dangling, waiting for a man's wrist, the narrow, flexing stem smelled of saddle soap and sweat. It groaned slightly as I torqued the sinew of it. The business end growing from the stem, blossomed into a menacing buckshot loaded cyst. The head, smooth as glass, gave no hint of lethal density packed beneath the rounded tip, shining like the toe of a new shoe. I once saw him dispatch a drunk with a tap of the Sap to the temple.

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Topics/Categories:

Fathers and Sons

Genre:

Prose Poetry

Type of Work:

Poetry

Publishers:

Writers' Journal

Awards:

First Place Winner Poetry Competition

Original Published Source:

Writers' Journal

Purchase From:

The Writers' Journal

Original Publish Date:

2008-01-03

Formats:

Magazine