prison song 05

prison song 05
by Joe Blades © 2006

phat rain traps me within
army intelligence space
either too open to draw
or too busy-full for people
to want to enter and interact
the walking tour under umbrellas
stands out in the open
listens to key sounds bounce
off stone walls yet they don’t
step in here out of the wet
and i’m not working
in a no step zone
like on airline wings
or landmined side of gorge
eleven years after war
it’s not been cleaned up
not been made safe
for anything but viewing
from the cleaned-up highway
side of this gorge road
from pale into sarajevo
i’ll be there again after
doing time in the garrison
district downtown fredericton
physical discomfort knots me
backless chairs and stools
nothing like the night owl
waiting on banks on the tisa
well-travelled moose and jelen
torture on our heads tugs
our hearts to grow and live
this song has hope woven
into its coffee- and beer-
dyed fiberous lines taut

T-shirt: blue whale petroglyph
loc: FAA casemate
temp: 23 C
sound: Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny "Message to a friend"