A Judicial Procedure

The mother holds the kid’s hand
The mother and the kid walk
into the courtroom

The father stands
across from the kid
and the mother
and the kid and the mother
listen

To the father
speak
and the judge listens
and the audience
and the mother
and the kid
with eyes widened

Stranger men stand
up and speak
about the father
about the mother
and the kid
the kid sits
quiet

and still
the judge speaks
everyone quiet
and still
the judge speaks
and silence

The mother holds the kid’s
hand the mother and the
kid walk into
the hallway the mother and
the kid walk into the street the
mother and the kid walk the mother
and the kid

still

By Sevde Kaldiroglu

Biography:

Sevde Kaldiroglu is a creative writer from Istanbul. At age 17, she was the youngest author of a memoir collection published in Turkey (Yitik Ulke Publishing, 2012). She’s received multiple national youth awards for her poetry and essays. She holds a BA in English, Creative Writing from Stanford University where she served as the editor-in-chief of Avicenna Journal for three years.