Roy told me about when he was
in the slammer those two years
and Joe backed him up on this
that they knew this screw
a prison cellblock guard that is
who was a decent enough guy
a really okay guy in fact
and young like themselves
same Creedence Clearwater tunes
same Clint Eastwood movies
though not much else in common
they talked to him about his job
what he was doing to himself
by working for a system
that dehumanized other men
tossing them in locked cages
and all the attendant indecencies
that he was in mortal danger
of turning into something ugly
someone he wouldn’t ever wish to be
his own mother wouldn’t even recognize
and explained to him about Plato
and other wise men they were reading
that he really was in jeopardy
of losing his own Soul
deforming it beyond all recognition
denying his fellow human beings
their essential this and that dignity
and all the rest of it
and the guy listened
and tried to argue against them
but could not make his case
they were right and he knew it
until finally he up and quit
and went off god knows where
and soon enough was replaced
by a real son of a bitch
