If You Stay Here Long Enough

some of us weren’t criminals before
but if you stay here long enough…

if you stay here long enough
it’ll stunt your growth
like a toddler smoking cigarettes drinking coffee
a woman in prison
a flower stepped on before it blooms
gasping under a correctional officers boot
petals parts of who you used to be smashed
and scattered into the wind
if you stay here long enough
your body aches from the cold and the heat
the lumpy bumpy misshapen mattress
could turn you into a comma or a question mark

they say the water gives you cancer
if you stay here long enough
daily disappointments served bitter
like a stale strong cup of coffee
artificially sweetened by religion or drugs
or a foray into gay love
or some attention from a cop
causing acid reflux that doesn’t stop
so I plug my nose and drink it black
with one too many canteen snacks

if you stay here long enough
an appeal or commutation dangles just out of reach
you sleep more
hoping to dream of the beach

you make good friends
they parole and leave

people die so often
you microwave grief

to get what you need
you have to learn
to calculate and manipulate
so you don’t get burned

some of us weren’t criminals before
but if you stay here long enough…