Island in the Bay

Filed under: Poetry — 1 June 1998 @ 6:38 pm

Past the wooden rails netted in steel
lurks a landmark amongst the sharks.
Formerly a haven for the enemy, a trap
they were never to escape.
This dungeon, this place called Alcatraz,
now beckons to travelers: come
come into my walls, see the notches
in concrete. They never left
and I will never leave you.

Living safely in your suburban dream,
see that I hold evil at bay no longer…
You peruse; gasp at the horror,
wondering how these sub-humans survived.
In the end, you sigh relief
believing I protect you from corruption.
But only in your own mind.
The decay outside is what exists inside,
there is no escape. Home will not
be your haven. The face on the poster
is your own, if you ever stopped long enough
you’d see, this clever deception you live in.

Packed,
like fish in a can,
they roll out of the ferry,
the stench of Alcatraz
forever with them…

June 1, 1998
San Francisco, CA

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