Thursday, July 12, 2018

day FIVE HUNDRED and THIRTY NINE

Where no one operates the lights

The lights never go off.
To sleep you burrow
under your foil blanket
and curl up like a cub.

Instead of sheep, count
children, twenty per cage.

Don't multiply to account
for how many cages.

If you need more numbers,
count the water bottles,
packs of chips, how many
children can sleep on one mat.

I don't know who she is but I
change her diaper. There aren't any toys

so she's my doll. Don't think
about why there's no dust on the wire.

The guard's gun is like the one
put to my brother's head.
To go back is death.
To stay here is purgatory.

Last night I dreamt of a lamp
beside a golden door

as I lie burrowed in a place
where the lights never go off.

--Emma Lee


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