Booked

Getting arrested and being

processed is called booked

and that place downtown

is called Central Bookings

If Jeremy Mathis

ends up dying

the judge will

throw the book at me

It’s as if all the books I’ve read

will prepare me for all the

books that are coming to me

And Umi worked as a bookkeeper

for small businesses like

Mahmoud’s fabric store

Fatima’s hair-braiding shop

Mr. Kingston’s plumbing services

and they all came to my trial

Umi didn’t have time to read books

There wasn’t enough bookkeeping

for bail money, though