Survivor

“Prison Corridor” by Lara Mukahirn

unrecognizable soul

just a wisp of a man

a mere rumor of shoulders

in drape of torn rags

cruelly hobbled by

muscle and bone become

weakened and wasted

skin soiled and soured

the telltale of lightless

unwashed fetid years of

forbidding imprisonment

bent but not broken

here standing in chains

of his pain the old poet

his verses summarily

deemed as subversive

here standing in chains

of his pains the old poet

defiant as ever impenitent

vivid unquenchable flames

dance their ethical dance

in his resolute eyes

 

“but the Chinese and the Iranians lock them up and throw away the keys . . .”
– Peter Notehelfer