poem

 Solitary Confinement

I keep them under wraps.

It’s a surveillance state in here

Of long windowless hallways,

Heavy locked doors and keycards

Dangling from lanyards 

Slung around thick necks. 

Get out of line and you

Get a cold arthritic fist

Wrapped around your throat.

Don’t worry, no one dies. 

I always release my grip

And let it breathe—

Anger, joy, jealousy,

  even the melancholy—

For another day longer,

As per the terms of its sentencing.

But then it’s straight to the hole—

Solitary confinement for 30 days

Which hardly seems like sufficient punishment.

You see, I’m not like other people

Buffeted by a stream of feelings 

Free to come and go as they please 

Without the elaborate trappings.

Mine are doing hard time

Just trying to survive

7/13/25