Tagged and Dragged

He watched
As they hosed out
The cruiser’s molded plastic
Back seat and floorboard.

It stank of urine
Feces and vomit.

A weak tan slush
Flowed from the vehicle
Oozing into the sewer drain
Behind the station.

The maintenance worker cursed
When the cocktail of human debris
Speckled his new
Red Wing work boots.

“Need help, Chaplain?”
A cop asked.
“Nothin’ to see here”
He laughed.

The weary chaplain
Shook his head
Gagging on the
Vomitus fumes.

“We got the perp
Tagged and dragged”
The cop said.
“He’s so trashed
He don’t even know
Where he is.”

The cop shrugged himself
Into a fresh cruiser
One boot in
The other boot out.

“All in a day’s work”
The cop laughed
As the slurry continued to flow.

The chaplain gagged again
As the alcohol
Feces
And urine
Streamed
From the cruiser.

All in a day’s work.

The human that belonged
To that sickly mess
Had been shoved into
The drunk tank
To sober up.

He was fourteen.