poetry - EASTERN

EASTERN

When I was a kid
the place where I lived
was a squat cinder block building
they called “the Cottage”.

Inside there was a rubber room
with thickly lined walls
one could slam ones’ self into
without really doing much harm.
I got to spend a bit of time there
when I was bad.

This was nothing like the room they used
the next door over
for the really bad kids.

When a really bad kid went into that room
the Counselors would call the rest of us together
in the hallway, outside the room
where we could look through the window in the door.

Through that window
we could see, four feet above the floor
the brown tinged blocks
as we would watch
a fresh application get added
to the otherwise white walls.

“If you are really bad
You’ll get to go in there too!”

lesson learned.
If you were only partly bad
You get the rubber room.
At least, there, you get to be left alone.

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READ AT THE: Mad Pride Festival / Held at Wisdom House / Litchfield, CT / 13 July 2007