I hobbled down to the store
on wooden heels through hell
just to understand
a few uncouth things about jail.

I gathered that maybe the mental hospital
has a worse attitude
and that only the poor end up
locked up
since the authority figures
get so paranoid about their lives and ways in general
that the only thing they want to do is trap them
and keep them from being out there free.

I dreamt last night
of spectacular lessons
in terms of subcultures
and really recalled the lecture at night
that the reason for war
was to murder people who had become enlightened
and above the curve of survival and knowledge.
The rest of them were savages
as you and I should have figured
from those black and white photographs
of teenagers with flamethrowers.