Alcatraz
The words,
etched on the cell wall
a lifetime ago, contained a truth
wrought by pain and loss.
“No one is innocent”
As I thought about the author
I watched the tourists,
oblivious of their own guilt,
pass hurriedly, never noticing
the crude engraving.
SMG
d'Verse Poet's Pub Writing Prompt: https://dversepoets.com/
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7 comments:
I can’t imagine what it was like on Alcatraz – the film with Burt Lancaster is my only point of reference. But I can imagine words etched on cell walls. Is your quadrille based on a real visit?
Can't wrap my mind around the experience. I thought you might dig this: https://rlavalette.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/oubliette-2/
I have been one of those tourists ... It's hard to take it all in when walking through ... emotion and imagination runs rampant. Well done.
Tourists. especially groups of them, are so numb and dull-witted. I live in a tourist town so I know. They're herded here and there.
I wonder how many of the tourists are really innocent... Reminds me of the opposite from Shawshank Redemption: Everybody's innocent in here. Don't you know that?
I've never been to Alcatraz, but I've walked through Eastern State Pen in Philadelphia. No one is innocent indeed.
Only truth -- and eloquence -- can convict us so profoundly as this poem does.
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