These Thoughts Became Cages

Back when I was

young and dumb, I

never thought that

I’d grow old and

clueless, writing

my own damn eulogy,

one poem at a time

to the tune of an

unsung song about

all of the women,

good times and

great ideas that I

never had, a legacy

built with squandered

fortunes, pissed away

to be forgotten in

dreams behind locked

doors, the vision of a

great escape beyond the

walls I have put up

around me and left

to wonder what speaks

louder, these thinly

veiled pleas for help

or the scratching of this

pencil as I busy myself

scribbling a brand new

history.

---

Dan Grote is an incarcerated writer of poetry, prose, signed confessions and a few hold-up notes. He’s turned years of poor choices into a wildly impressive body of work. Please check out We Are All Doing Time (Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books, 2023) and contact him via email at thedangrote@gmail.com