Prison of Mind

They say

read history books to be

prepared for the future

don’t repeat past mistakes

but

we repeat them anyway

over and over

don’t offend them

don’t go to war

don’t be racist

quarantine and isolate

why the fuck

            wheel keeps spinning makes no

                        sense

            pages of the book flip rapidly

                        like spell books in

                        movies

            going to tell me my future

            literally

but what will I

do with that?

nothing

why not

no one will

listen

don’t you understand people hear

            but they don’t listen

            everything you say like

water soaking through bread

            some leaks out

                        evaporates

            the rest just molds

you’re going to be murdered

            Agatha Christie can’t help you now

                        mysteries backwards are just

                        nightmares

            no one believes you when you tell them

                        they’ll be dead

they’ll dig the hole to bury themselves in

            crazy humanity

                        convicted of

sexism

abuse

homophobia

xenophobia

torture

rape

imprisonment

lock your problems away to clear

            your face

            when there’s a murder

            right outside your glass door

I won’t let you back in when you repent

            you knew what you were doing

            you act high and mighty

                        share all the ‘me too’ posts saying

                        ‘so brave’

                        ‘important issue’

until someone you know is raped then

            she’s ‘dramatic’

                        ‘lying’

                        ‘was always crazy’

you bastards

sometimes I awake seething with anger

            you live in a sugarcoated world

you walk downtown

            through the streets candy stores nail salons

                        world filled with joy and

            cotton candy

you know where there’s less color

            detention centers

            prisons

            streets where people live

                        hiding from the police

            guns pointed at innocent people

            guns legally in the hands of bigots

                        and murderers

sometimes all the color of the world blinds you

            it covers up the truth in swirling lights

            like you put a piece of paper

            with a colorful design

                        against your tongue

                        Ginsberg

            watch the colors of the street

                        morph together

                        as the handcuffs close on your wrists

and you see reality