Josh L., Iowa: Finding Freedom

Finding Freedom

^{JOSH L., IOWA}

Is it possible to be lost 
           and be tethered and bound? 
 
Cinder blocks painted white 
stained      with sundered spirits 
marred       by broken hopes 
Fence and razor and barbs 
metal roses without petals 
hold me tight in their bramble 

Manacled and barred 
            Locked away     from self 
            Stuck        with the stranger 
residing within     my own mind 
 
Is it possible     for freedom 
         to come from confinement? 
 
I wander hallways while 
walking    along midnight trees 
I swim in Iske’s lake while 
beaten     by cold, metallic showers 
 
I taste, oh do I taste, 
Mother’s mashed potatoes while 
I eat my portion of poor fare 

Mahmoud I can see 
             how you found freedom 
It is possible 
              for prison walls 
to disappear 

I found my freedom      without keys 
locked behind walls 
Went on a journey       through deserts 
barren and desolate mindscapes 
Held discourse      with id and ego 
emperors and poets 
 
I came to know the stranger 
            as me       and became 
     a stranger        to myself