Let us roll our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball;
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
-Marvell
Prison is a State of Mind
Interrogation is my Expectation
at Mental-Health-Probation.
with Conviction Officer Jessup
reiterates, “DO NOT Mess-Up.”
I’d been trampled underfoot,
Charged by herds of Bull-
SHIT flashing Red, White,
Blue, Trapped. It was a wrap.
“I’m just a Lowly Road Cop [cuffing
your Wrist to the Emergency rail].”
In custody the ill Will deteriorate,
I was Present, Property of The State.
Rebooting keeps me out of jail
now I relax and paint my Nails
no cell surrounds, suicidal and frail.
No more prayer for ten percent bail.
s T. on E.
Walden sequesters The River;
tides-rip hither and thither.
The Oceans bequeath Sublime
Signs Shown throughout Time:
Beware, as blue turns to black
Sea Monsters are on The Attack.
-Ayesha Ramazan Gill
