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Nigdaw Oct 2021
sometimes the prisons that hold us
have no walls ceiling or door
we are our own jailer
judge and jury
we’re the only ones
can set us free
Aaron Mullin Jan 2018
I saw a good person do a bad thing once
I thought I was a good person but I did a bad thing once, too

Have you ever seen a good person do a bad thing?
Have you ever been the good person doing a bad thing (on occasion)?

Have you ever seen...
<>the bars that imprison you?<>

Have you ever been...
<>the bars that imprison you?<>

There is a potential to be stuck behind the words & letters...
of this Song to the Open Road

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

But look at the stars

|               |               |               |

And look at the bars

|A|n|d| |re|a|l|i|z|e| |t|h|e| |j|a|i|l|e|r| |i|s| |y|o|u|
Listening to Madeleine Peyrou's version of Between the Bars. Orion is having a good time laughing at my antics. Me? I am just ******* around with semantics while riffing on the Jailer's Daughter. Peace begins with empathy.
Duke Thompson Dec 2016
dare I?
be your *****
whatever you like


director drives me to town
asked if things slowed down
when the other car hit
(nope)

most likely probing crises response capacity
intellectual curiosity or genuine concern
wager the former at 10:1
if they'd take bet

I'm just like him
I'm going to be him
groomed

flatly delivered jokes about a ***** test
better received by coworkers
"funny guy"

who is this man at the keystroke?
beached and bleached
disco ****

same old heady glazed blue-grey stormy
reminiscent of bucolic childhood splendor
when was good and town was endless
that never really existed on a barren rock

"many of you look changed, somehow older..."
pause for suspense
"and some look exactly the same"
cue laughter and my irritation,
salt rimmed with rage

am I now jailer?
(whispered)
*****
indeed here now the gatekeeper
open locked doors knowing

will purge again
no matter how movement restricted
treadmill only, calorie burn
gym restricted

not equipped
(won't talk)
transfer to children's hospital
before heart fails

do it make a difference?
displaced despair
wash not over me
instead cut through me

starve binge
sniff and smoke
Izzy Oct 2014
Handcuffs line my wrists
The key dangling so sharp

one; just one, I say
but my jailer disagrees

one more, he taunts
you know you want to, he laughs

handcuffs line my wrists; stained red
never to be broken

looking at whats left of my prison
my jailer leaves
and moves on looking for the next criminal

— The End —