Some Pomes

A Whole New World

Working where the sun doesn’t shine,
different noises; the whir of door locks
rather than the click of magnetic keys.
Dryers firing up like turbo engines.
Some similarities – crinkling plastic
mattresses, snores and sleep mumbling.
This is my new world, alone with
a roomful of adjudicated youth.
8 hours fractured into 12 minute intervals.
Coffee cold by 1:00am.
So much silence sometimes my ears hurt.
Nothing to do but read and await
the arrival of the laundry cart,
full of identical khakis and nappy
towels stained brown from the wash.
4.6.13/12.56am

First Night Alone

Surrounded by chunky chairs
and weighted tables. Everything
too heavy to lift or too light to hurt.
Shoplifters and murderers sleeping
side by side, separated by cinder blocks.
Accomplishments include "days without an assist"
which translates to: no physical interventions.
Today’s tally: twelve.
Black bubbles watching them,
watching me as I write, read, listen.
"Control" bearing witness to every move
from their fishbowl office,
full of monitors and blinking lights.
The furnace clunks on,
3 more hours to go.
4.6.13/4.00am

Here are some pics from the website to show what my view is all nite…(except instead of the small plastic chairs outside the doors, they all have the big blue plastic ones…)