crime and punishment

Michelle Schaefer

solo confinement she finds herself wanting to stretch the length of time is double on the in(side) she has always avoided (tenements) even though her key was bull/et proof and opened the bro/ken door (she never felt safe) outside she had an artificial hobby of stealing shiny bodies she had no(where) to put her mistakes she pretends to be a cave dweller her only friends a bat and a shiv/er somewhere a sound like a home she for/got a night train rumbles on a distant causeway she jumped parole (once) but it was too high for some(one) like her she could escape live below (sub)terranean scratching dirt under her nails a way to make a clean/er living she imagines breathing for (ever) like she (once) did on death row (some) say it’s a crime for clubbing fish

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