Asylum

 

Claudio Mufarrege's "The Arrow Shot"

You bind me

But your walls, your halls they cannot hold me

Body broken but the spirit

Rise, swimming in the deep

Recesses of the forgotten—

Mind: sole reality of prison

You forget, but this soul knows,

It reaches through your gray decay

And in the darkness spring forth wings

To flight, unknown, and I am nothing and no one

But here I am,

These halls

Are mine.

* Photography by Claudio Mufarrege, from her gorgeous photos and interview I conducted with her, as featured on One Stop Poetry.

Draft Notice

Inconspicuous paper,

deceive and demand–

a boy brings in the mail

to find a life in green,

dark script bares

far darker words–

what are my options

as the ink dries on his fingers,

like blood run down,

or casings raining black against the dawn.

Fields in the words

hold bodies broken,

but in the silent flight,

the flickering light–

a slower demise of

loneliness and stripes

surrounded yet

by wagging fingers; scathing scowls.

The smell of ashes

does not abate in breathing–

burn the scraps away

but your dearest Uncle has to say

you still have got to show.

The Labyrinth

Commit unto me

the ability to See;

there is so much I wish to Learn,

no longer shall I simply yearn.

Commit unto me

the secrets of the endless ages

bound by the winding passages

of your shadowed mystery.

Let all be bared to me

as I commit unto your halls—

winding, coiling in a countless web

of one path, bound to a single center.

Take my eyes

and let the darkness grace,

eyes blind but arms outstretched,

with mind open to embrace.

Cast aside the clinging tatters

for immaterial metamorphosis

from the chains of that society

that barred me from your gates.

Lo! No more bound

I float into your grace

and rapture myself

upon your delicate caress.

Shut out the light,

stretch out existence;

the senseless path becomes

alighted by reality, purified.

In you the sky is my solace,

dancing and diving through clouds,

limitless in my exploration,

but grounded—finally connected.

Others jeer amidst

the fickle insecurity

bred into imprisoned forms—

bound body, mind, and soul.

No fear, march unhindered—

their rage is not for you;

still wrapped in grim conformity,

blinded minds bar ascension.

Noise topples as I touch the center

and everything falls away;

complete, I breathe at last—

Your corridors have set me free.

Just let go

“Just let go,”

I heard the dead man say–

all fire and steel,

this medieval madness in my veins.

Touch the Fire,

watch it burn–

my flourish of steel

can ward the Dragons,

but this feathered sword is nothing to the light.

I could write you off,

but never Time–

ensconced in the moment

I wear it like a shield

to burn the fires out around me.

Still through the swirling smoke–

the fires die,

but the scorches linger.

The black marks on my skin

refuse to go–

I Breathe but I cannot Release

and I am Bound

Forever by the Deed.