Words Is a Powerful Thing by Brian Daldorph

Author:Brian Daldorph [Daldorph, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, Language Arts & Disciplines, Writing, Poetry, Social Science, Penology
ISBN: 9780700632152
Google: u90OzgEACAAJ
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2021-01-15T04:21:03+00:00

The Asylum of Psyche (or Free Cell)

They seek to punish—locking me away;

they only hold the “matter” part of me!

The part of me they cannot hold at bay

is writing this: My Immortal Psyche!

I breach this cell with every thought I think—

imagination knows no cinder blocks!

Their time and space continuum’s a chink

which I can filter through—despite their locks!

I’ve gone to shipwrecks in their deepest seas;

I’ve climbed Mount Everest in the month of Hell!

I’ve dated more than one of the Pleiades;

I’ve seen and done more than I’ve time to tell!

Yea! All this! Plus! Chagrin and consternation—

how I evade their lame incarceration!

—Vogue Rogue

That’s Vogue Rogue, who had hundreds of poems, but where to keep them? One time he told me about his solitary publication; I don’t recall the details of it, but I did help him with his second publication—in the Lawrence Journal-World’s Christmas Day haiku page. If I didn’t see Vogue Rogue in class, then I’d see him soon enough on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence and expected to always see him there. But about five years ago he was gone—I don’t know where, and I didn’t get to give him the best publication he’ll likely ever have, his impressive contribution to Douglas County Jail Blues. I think you can understand why I’m so pleased to have gotten at least a few poems from this strange, gifted poet on the page. He’d push the envelope and get us riled up, but there was only one Vogue Rogue in the whole world, and I was lucky enough to meet the gifted trickster who trusted me to be the keeper of his poems.

What do all these poems add up to? They did not bring significant fame to any of the poets here, but they did bring the thought to these writers that they had done at least one good thing in lives often chaotic and close to meltdown. In attending class, in being part of the circle, they were able to help themselves and others to be part of something bigger than themselves and their immediate concerns, and that helped the healing. As Ron Z. wrote:

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