Thursday, January 2, 2014

October Sunday At The Penitentary



There's as many cars 
As orange
Red 
And yellow 
Leaves whirling around in the parking lot
In the northbound run of wind

Between the tires and bumpers
And dark tinted windows
Of silver and black rides
Parked in straight lines 
On the sweeping
Sun soaked
Tar

Every mother, daughter and girlfriend
Is waiting

Grandaughters too
Bouncing in patient mother’s arms

Dressed in Sunday’s finest
Crowded like the entrance to church 
Outside the razor-wire gate
Waiting to be processed
And buzzed in

There is a hum 
In the crowd
Like the electricity traveling through the high-voltage power lines
Hanging from the towers just past the facility

Steel upon steel upon steel blue
Slashing the crisp autumn sky
Like metal razor edges
Lacerating the willowy tissue

The change of seasons
Afront
Out there
Beyond the metal detectors
Can only be felt
Not seen
By those 
Incarcerated
In the yard

They circle like painted leaves
That have lost their color

Choreographed by time
And habit

Change
Is just outside
On their front doorstep

Even the painted ladies
Waiting to pass
Through security
Fail to notice
Such a simple fact
Of nature


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