running on the streets of Detroit
(ankles waiting to be sprained)
I once discovered a sanctuary--
brand-new track on the campus
of a Catholic seminary school

there’s a gate for cars but bodies
(even the female ones)
can walk right through it so I did
(made a habit of it, actually)

until one day: a voice pierces through my earbud oblivion:
stop! you can’t run here

but I know I can, I wanted to say,
I know because I did it yesterday,
and the day before that,
and also 3 or 4 times since the week before last;
and in the totality of this time I have not seen
a single other soul using that track

I have seen empty bags of Doritos, though
(the pre-priests have snack-time but not gym class)

I did not say these things and dutifully left

the next day, ever the curious woman who
wants to try something she has been told not to--
serpent slithers through the gate again
only to be cast away

I pretended not to hear her but I did hear her
boss from a walkie-talkie saying
if she doesn’t leave, tell her you’ll call the police

I have not known Catholics to be this eager
to get police involved

the alter boy who sat across from me in study hall
blew his brains out freshman year;
a quarter century later our priest Father Jack was--
(finally finally finally)--
laicized for sexual abuse
Father Jack got passed around from
one parish of potential prey to another;
perish or pray, parish or prey

not once did anyone call the police
(on him or any of them)
jesus fucking christ: our tithings were their hush money

so let me ask you: you sure I can’t run here?
I’m free now because
I can run and I did.





Lindsay-Rose Dunstan, MD (she/her/hers) is a queer psychiatrist, prison/police abolitionist, and founder of Uncaged Minds, a mental health and wellness resource for low-resourced Detroiters with neurodivergent conditions and marginalized identities. Her work has been published in leftist and mental health journals, poetry anthologies, and Slate Magazine. Her debut chapbook, Odes to Floating, is set to be published by Finishing Line Press in 2024. She lives in Detroit.