Men As Children In Prison, Dissolving
I
after hearing you tell how you murdered
three people in an afternoon
and hearing another tell two,
and hearing another tell one,
and another tell two,
and another
I’m telling you
there are bits of me stuck in seeing all of you
in your prison blues
hunched
wrecked
heads-in-hands
choking on your own disgust with yourselves
stop choking, there’s no disgust
when you set the details aside.
details of your murdering
don’t matter
in order to understand
that you, as a child,
were dissolving in your haunting
long before you spilled
how
as children you came to killing
and how
you’ll never not be children dissolving
so many lives dissolve here.
dissolving still:
grabbing at pieces of yourselves
feathery and drifting
like children grab
at viscous bubbles
in awe, like deciduous
trees come alive
with new leaves
blindingly
green.
II
what is blindingly green?
a potter says blindingly green
is parts of gloss, opaque, viscous, Bright Spring Green.
a potter says it is best on iron clay as it creates
dark flecks and variation in how
it’s blinding.
the potter says, the glaze is solid,
unchanging
alive.
III
what is the difference between a hand
thrown mug and a man who has lived
in prison since
childhood
where green is concerned?
what is the difference when we are
cooked to mature and cooled again.
Althea Seloover, 2020