<div class="line">They call me judge.</div>
<div class="line">Talk about hacks and specs,</div>
<div class="line">seizures and blues.</div>
<div class="line">It’s my first day, and it all eludes me.</div>
<div class="line">A limo driver yells: it is conspiracy,</div>
<div class="line">medallions and cops. He takes off his shoe—</div>
<div class="line"><i>… in my country this means I tell the truth,</i></div>
<div class="line">he licks the bottom.</div>
<div class="line">They read Taxi News</div>
<div class="line">and look at their watches.</div>
<div class="line">My decisions pile up</div>
<div class="line">while I try passwords on the computer.</div>
<div class="line">downandout123, neerdowell456.</div>
<div class="line">Finally, ihatelaw789, gets me in.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">I find everybody guilty.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/BadnerTaxi.mp3"></audio></figure>

His Refrigerator Was Disappointing

The Anti-Protest

Taxi Court

<div class="line">I was a squatter</div>
<div class="line">in hearing room 506.</div>
<div class="line">The office was empty.</div>
<div class="line">Claims for the space were under review, stalled</div>
<div class="line">by state bureaucratic snarl.</div>
<div class="line">I was bold, took what should be mine.</div>
<div class="line">The other hearing officers were angry</div>
<div class="line">that I—a transfer, of only a few months—</div>
<div class="line">could see the outside.</div>
<div class="line">They filed petitions to the bosses in Albany.</div>
<div class="line">Those without windows did not speak to me,</div>
<div class="line">even to say hello.</div>
<div class="line">The friends of those without windows</div>
<div class="line">did not speak to me,</div>
<div class="line">even to say hello.</div>
<div class="line">My requests for an ergonomic chair</div>
<div class="line">were thwarted.</div>
<div class="line">But I had a window.</div>
<div class="line">I could see scaffolding.</div>
<div class="line">The tops of city buses. The swirling</div>
<div class="line">litter of downtown Brooklyn.</div>
<div class="line">I could see weather.</div>
<div class="line">I was elated.</div>
<div class="line">Then the email circulated.</div>
<div class="line">I was being moved</div>
<div class="line">to a small windowless nook</div>
<div class="line">in the back northwest corridor of the fourteenth floor.</div>
<div class="line">And now, this is where I sit.</div>
<div class="line">Over the HVAC. Under</div>
<div class="line">the yellow asbestos-drenched tiles.</div>
<div class="line">On my lopsided,</div>
<div class="line">ill-fitted</div>
<div class="line">ergonomic chair.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/BadnerWindow.mp3"></audio></figure>

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April 19, 2017Taxi CourtLisa Badner

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April 19, 2017Taxi CourtLisa Badner

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I Had a Window by Lisa Badner