THE PEOPLE CAGE
by Dee Allen.
C.A.R.E.
For the homeless
On some street
In Saint Pete
Looks like
A cage
For people
An open-air
Holding cell
South of Heaven,
East side of Hell,
A jailhouse with a dusky
Ceiling full of stars,
Black wrought
Iron bars
Surrounds the transients’ reality.
Across the street
From a trailer,
S.W.A.T. monitors enclosed activity:
Crouching low,
Pacing around,
Nine-hour
Lock-down—
It was animals
That placed
Homeless ones in captivity
For no sins, away from palm trees & passers-by.
A step up from sidewalk
Tent-snatching.
Public safety
For rich newcomers
On some street
In Saint Pete
Looks like
A cage
For people
Guantanamo Bay
Outside.
Written: 3.15.19
[For Bruce & Barbara Wright.]
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California, who has been active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Author of 4 books [ Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater and his newest, Skeletal Black, all from POOR Press ] and 18 anthology appearances [ including Poets 11: 2014, Feather Floating On The Water, Rise, Your Golden Sun Still Shines, What Is Love, The City Is Already Speaking, The Land Lives Forever and the newest from Los Angeles-based Vagabond Books, Extreme ] under his figurative belt so far.
