Being on Lock
By DJ
A start from home
I started alone
Very far place like America to Rome
Everything posing
Watching all four walls close in
Behind a door that never opens
Time never stops
23 hours of being on lock
Could have been worse—could’ve ended up in a box
But this is the story of being on lock.
Incarcerated individuals placed on “lockdown” are kept alone in their cell for 23 hours per day and given one hour for exercise and recreation. Since writing this poem, DJ has returned to the DC Jail’s general population.
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My favorite section was this:
Watching all four walls close in
Behind a door that never opens
Time never stops
23 hours of being on lock.
It simple but graphic. I did wonder, though, I’d think it would be more like time WAS stopped, if you had to be one place, alone, for 23 hours at a time. But the image of four walls closing in made sense; that’s all you could see, and they trapped you.
I would be very interested to hear more about the emotions and thoughts you have while on lock–this poem only scratches the surface. I can see it as the first poem in a series that delves into the isolation, claustrophobia, and perhaps even meditations that come out of being on lock. Please keep writing!
[I ‘liked’ this and gave it a five star rating, and five others ‘liked’ it before me]
Lockdown sounds awful.
How to keep out of there?
(the frying pan, and the fire)
And make a start,
again,
to reach someplace higher?
Ah – your poem is better than mine, DJ.
Love,
Anasera
DJ,
I am glad to hear that you are now in general pop again.
I can only image what it feels like to be on lock. How about you share more of your thoughts and emotions from when you were on lock?
Keep up the good work.
This was short and simple, but so complex at the same.
Thanks DJ
-MM
DJ, things will get better, just continue to grow and learn from the mistakes you made in the past. Although you may feel trapped, allow your mind to explore so you are only trapped physically and not mentally.