The more you Innocent –
The more you Thrown in Jail²
Prison Towns, prison Motels, prison
Movies, prison Books, prison Dreams³
When the Prisoner thinks of Light – is
It the same Light that Illuminates you?⁴
Whatever Crimes they have committed,
Much Greater Crimes are committed by
The Authorities who maintain the Prisons⁵
Every Prison that men build are built with
Bricks of Shame – the Vilest deeds like
Poison weeds bloom well in Prison-Air⁶
Democracy, Freedom, Progress – when
Returned to their Cells are Incoherent⁷
The degree of Civilization in society
Can be found by entering its Prisons⁸
Prisons do not disappear Problems:
They just disappear Human Beings⁹
Those outside daren’t set foot in
Prisons for fear of Disappearing
Into Cells kept empty for them¹⁰
¹ Fanny Howe, The Definitions
² V.S. Naipaul, Miguel Street
³ C.D. Wright, Dear Unbidden, Unbred
⁴ Pablo Neruda tr. original, The Book of Questions XXIV
⁵ Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
⁶ Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol
⁷ John Berger, From A to X
⁸ Fyodor Dostoevsky tr. Constance Garnett, The House of the Dead
⁹ Angela Davis, Masked Racism
¹⁰ Katherine Anne Porter, Flowering Judas