Poem by Gloria O’koye
‘You have a collect call from…’
My loved one.
My dearest.
My heart beats for your humanity to
Remain intact.
Please don’t forget that you are still
Human.
‘A Person from’…
Caged inside money laundering,
Power greedy,
Institutions.
Destroying prime farmlands,
Stealing resources.
They call it
Bail Reform
As if mass dumping
Promotes public safety.
Call it insanity at its finest core!
Our neighbours are doing just fine
Following what they do best!
Have you watch the news
Or spoke with folks
How amazing their reform has done for them?
Supposedly built to uphold accountability.
But lost its meaning since it was never its
True intention.
Except a holding cell for runaways &
Modernize the chain gang.
We ain’t witness!
‘If you accept this call,
Press one.
To decline,
Please press…’
Button viciously pressed
Before another second passed.
There will be times it can turn out
Into silence.
Where hellos, are you there?
Can you hear me?
Gets repeated.
Because the other side will just get
The message that the caller disconnected.
Stirring up arguments,
As if one side declined those limited calls
For no reason.
‘Thank you for choosing’…
The prison-industrial complex.
Well-fed cash cows that rely on
Fear-mongering ears from the public.
Where human version of puppy mills
Overflow in the land of money & torture.
But prying eyes will not understand,
Unless their loved ones, or they themselves,
Experience what happened to so many others.
Hello?
Landslide of eagerness to hear the sweet voice.
A vision of gathering outside
Brings peace, or pain for both sides,
So those going insane
Don’t bother mentioning it.
Good, or bad terms
Could not cancel the fact
Of missing that familiar voice.
A conversation
Of many conversations
To be continued
Into the next poem…
