Escaping

You are always saying
You can’t stand it any more

People look askance
There he goes again

He always goes off on that
When he misses his medication

Peering down the hall
Shhh they’re coming

Others have gotten out
We’ll be like them Shhh

There are ghosts in the mountains you know
Informants in the fields

You’ll be back before you’re missed
And then they’ll kill you

I know where the blind spots are
Where the cameras aren’t watching

I know where the river is
Shallow enough to wade Shhh

Where the shadow falls on the wall
That is where the rope is buried

You have five minutes
Before the lights switch on

When the guard relieves himself
Make a dash for it

When you get to the mountains
There will be owls

The wind will whisper names
But shadows will point the way

There will be cairns
Don’t sleep or

Your dreams will betray you
Eat the lichens

Don’t drink the water
Practice the language

If you get past reason, there is the wall
Of bitter memory

And then there is the razor
Fence of false memory and the fog

Drones prowling with eyes like wolves
Hair-trigger complexes

In the snow fields
Underground rooms into which if you fall

You will stay writing poems
That no one will ever read

At a tiny desk with an epoxy lamp
Connected by hallways

Leading to workout rooms
With people building strong bodies

Watching made-for-TV movies
In which their avatars are

Battling evil and making love
If you make it to the perimeter

Turn left at Walgreen
Continue straight past Home Depot

Don’t stop at Citco
The gas is 4 cents cheaper at the Mobile station

If you don’t want to miss the sale at Bed Bath and Beyond
You can escape tomorrow

Just ignore the blue light flashing behind you
He’s after someone else

Ignore the helicopter swooping over the highway
You have nothing to fear

Nothing to hope for
But nothing to fear Shhh