“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
Poesy plus Polemics 