Poem: "A Different Beat"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is overflow from the July 2, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from perfectworry. It has been sponsored by janetmiles.  Read the sequel "Tikkun Olam"  and follow the series Walking the Beat on the Serial Poetry page.


"A Different Beat"


It's not glamorous, what they do, but it works.
Jamaica Plain is a nice neighborhood these days,
and they want to keep it that way.

Dale walks slowly, leaning on her cane,
careful of the limp left by the injury
that retired her from police work.
Her short dark hair is perfectly combed,
her buttoned shirt and trousers neat.

Kelly walks beside her, letting Dale set the pace.
Long blonde hair spills over the shoulders
of her coral dress, held back by a turquoise ribbon.
She has an artist's eye for things that should not match
but do anyway, a characteristic of her work.

They stay close to each other, always in reach,
only letting go when Kelly wants to say something,
graceful signs falling from her fingertips like flowers.
Dale replies in the language she has learned
to converse with her lover, and then
they twine their fingers back together.

Women holding hands in Boston:
not new, not news.
Nobody minds if they
march to the beat of a different drum.

They walk through the neighborhood every day,
sometimes here, sometimes there,
always present but never predictable.
It varies, how far Dale can go at a given time.

They visit the green spaces: Olmsted Park,
Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum, and Franklin Park.
All around, flowers bloom and birds sing,
and the two women keep an eye on the hedges
where unsavory individuals might lurk.

In Hyde, Jackson, and Egleston Squares
the soft sound of Spanish ripples past.
Kelly responds with a few phrases
in Dominican Sign Language.
There are flyers for a new store opening;
Dale takes one and hands over
her own summary of the town hall meeting.

In Brookside they know the folks at JP Cohousing,
always a good place for potluck dinners
and movie nights with friends.
Dale and Kelly have considered moving in
but aren't sure they want to give up the solitude
that their own place provides at the end of the day.

Sometimes they eat out for lunch or supper.
James's Gate is a favorite spot,
with its casual atmosphere and outdoor seating.
People know them there.

This is all Kelly's idea, and to be honest,
Dale hadn't thought it would work.
When Dale got upset because she had to retire,
Kelly coaxed her to explore new ways of fighting crime.

It's not as flashy as the old badge-and-gun days,
but it's satisfying in its own way,
just walking a different beat.

Dale and Kelly know every block of their neighborhood.
They encourage people to meet their neighbors
and help keep an eye out for each other.
They follow city politics and talk about ways
to push the crime rate down.
They're into environmental and social activism.

Oh, there have been a few times when
they interrupted a robbery or assault,
and more than a few when they warned
some drunken bohemian crowd to settle down,
but for the most part Jamaica Plain is a quiet place.

Dale and Kelly smile at each other.
The days when they're not really needed,
those are the best.

* * *

Notes:

Boston is on the list of lesbian-friendly cities, and Jamaica Plain is known as a neighborhood favored by lesbians.

The phrase "Boston marriage" refers to two women living together, independent of male influence. It does not specify sexual orientation, and little historic evidence is available. People variously interpret these as lesbian, queerplatonic, friendship, or roommate relationships. Given human diversity, probably all of those happened and still do.

Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood with many green spaces.

James's Gate is a popular pub.

Jamaica Plain has a slightly lower crime rate than average for Boston.

Dominican Sign Language is related to American Sign Language. A significant number of neighborhood residents come from the Dominican Republic, along with other Hispanic areas.

JP Cohousing is an intentional community in Jamaica Plain.

There are many ways to make a neighborhood safer and friendlier. Many cities have embarked on community improvement.

Comments

[mdlbear]

I like this a lot.

[perfectworry]

I love this.

I don't know if you had any way of knowing, but I'm (most recently) from Boston.

[gingicat]

Oh, very nice. I used to go to JP weekly to sing with a women's chorus called Pridetones (for lesbians, bisexuals, and allies) and this rings very true.

[baaing-tree.livejournal.com]

Hey, I know JP! It's a shame I'm not near that area of town, because it seems quite nice. When I can afford housing again, it's actually one of the areas I'm likely to be in.

Nostalgia!

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oh I like this, in so many ways besides the story itself.

• We lived in Boston and near it for 20 years; raised the kids in Framingham.
• I have a special interest in sign languages, even beyond being a research linguist: I did my doctoral work on ASL, and am currently assembling pointers to resources on many other sign languages as well for something at work.
• I like neighborhood maintenance. One of my ... odder (though maybe not in this crowd) practices is cleaning up as I walk around, by taking down out-of-date signs on lamp poles and other public property, picking up and disposing of broken glass (and bottles that'll get broken before long if they stay where they are), and similar tikkun olam, as we call it in Judaism: repairing the world.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I like these two, and am glad people like them exist. Ghods know I don't know any of my neighbors, much less all of them.

[leia_solo]

I really enjoyed this. Very very much.