Self-Incarceration

Self-imprisonment

Is the worst form

Of punishment

Still, it is not out of the norm

To find a tiny bee hummingbird

Ruby Zoom, hidden inside a double-glazed display cabinet

One can think or fathom how absurd

It is to be imprisoned in a knotty net

Conspicuously clear like black ice. And yet

One is trapped. One cannot

Get out or escape freely, effortlessly or easily

Without the help of a demented brat

Rufus Colibri bird is not like a bee

Which travels everywhere

And yet lives nowhere

The latter chooses the universe

For being ubiquitous and annoying

While playing the violin, despite the thirst

As the former is seeking and yearning

For something strangely unknown

Unlike a bowwow that barks for meat and bones

Self-confinement

Is the worst form

Of punishment

Don’t follow the decorum

Maneuver yourself and manumit your mind

While synchronously remain kind

In the pursuit of happiness and freedom

Don’t stay quiet or motionless in a corner

Do something; say something, sing, clap, talk or whisper

Loud enough to irritate the grouchy bogeyman

Don’t be your worst enemy or an evil undertaker

Be free like a bee that plays the tuba and the violin

Life is an impetuous dream

Not a Sunday afternoon marshmallow fudge ice-cream

Life is a live reality

Not a willy-nilly fantasy.

P.S. A tribute to Paul L. Dunbar, Maya Angelou,

 All Activists, Freedom Fighters and Lovers.

Copyright © January 2022, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved

Hébert Logerie is the author of several books of poetry.