Here Among The Interns

They’re the traitors


I tell myself each morning when the reveille is played


they’re the traitors


my mantra as I fall asleep behind a concrete barricade


but they’re the ones in charge here


and here I am among the interns



when I got here it was mostly Sylvanian refugees


I don’t see as many of them anymore


met slave-descended people
moved from chicken wire cordoned ghettoes


now there’s just a few arriving at the door


did I say door? I meant to say gate


patrolled and guarded by people who hate



they don’t have to like us


they don’t think we’re human


they barely have to feed us


they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to



I’m an agitator


I held our truth self-evident, decorous, later vicious


I’m an agitator


or at least I was until I ran afoul
of Fearless Leader’s wishes


and he’s the one in charge here


and here I am among the interns



now that I’ve been here
it’s mostly other activists


and people from the left of where the Leader stands


a clique of intellectuals
from colleges and agencies


who made their voices heard despite the reprimands


came through the door with ball and chain 


won’t be going out again



they don’t plan to spare us


they don’t even plan to bury us


they barely give us clothing


they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to



it’s been a while now since I’ve seen my angel


except for in my memories of our life before


they won’t tell me if she’s still alive


there is no “right to know things” for a prisoner of war


the past is now my joy, only moments in the day


they haven't figured out yet
how to take my bliss away


but give them time



how fast they sold their brothers out
for scraps of filthy lucre


and promises of preference and elevation


they need someone to fear them
require a helpless man to kick


a slave, a dog, a target for their degradation


when the camp became a battlefield


I became a human shield


nothing more than living meat


to take a round for the elite



they stripped us of our rations


they stripped us of our outerwear


and since we are the enemy


they've decided they don't have to spare us any more



and I am not in charge here


so here I am among the interns



with the helplessly detained


marching barefoot through the plains


deadly heat at highest noon


expect I’ll see my angel soon