*****

Because they might as well have been living in old Russia.

Even they knew enough not to kill us.

Here’s how it’s done these days:

Make them breathe poison.

Make them eat poison.

Makes them drink poison.

… Oh, not enough to hospitalized them. That might mean tests.

Just enough to slow them down.

Slow them down.

Practice continuous sleep deprivation torture upon them.

Send agents to hover visibly everywhere they go.

Make sure they’re made fun of every time they move an arm, leg or head.

Every time they take a deep breath.

And most especially…

… Every time they smile.

Give Hemingway’s FBI files a review sometime.

We don’t have to lock them up. That’s a little bit too obvious, any more.

… Just make it so they’re afraid to leave home and possessions unguarded!

Let’s see them visit an arts collective then.

A poetry reading.

Perform musically.

… Make any professional connections at all!

No, we don’t imprison or kill our poets.

We just torture them ~ right out on the public street.

We do nothing at all to find, apprehend or stop the torturers.

But we do lock the victims up when they start having to scream.