Hard to Swallow- Assignment 1

For this assignment we had to recall a place, somewhere we had been and not necessarily a "nice" place.

Hard To Swallow
I am looking down
At navy blue “one size fits all” socks that are too big for my feet
with rubber for traction
and a faded light blue curtain that hangs on me.

Here I am,
not allowed to have my shoes.
My clothes.
They tell me I can't be trusted.

A man with a velcro beard lurks outside,
he stares at me.
I am sitting on a concrete slab.
The woman in my room with a dictionary thick Jamaican accent tells him "move along now."
The man saunters along the hall like a "Thriller" zombie
More begin to emerge from their graves.

They line up against the satin painted walls.
I take my place with the herd.
Everyone else has their “street clothes” but me.
I give a woman my name.
In return a little white wax paper cup with a little white round pill.


The cattle return to their cells.
We are locked in this prison
where I can not have my shoes.
At snack time everyone is eating PB & J with pints of milk
in a room filled with crayon drawings.

There is a woman sitting across from me
She looks up, points at me and says "Lucy"
Her hair a black and gray Brillo pad.
Stray strands sprouting from her chin.
Her eyes are glazed. Her smile is crooked and decaying.
She looks a few seats down and points at a young man and says "Ricky"

In the common area there is a Halloween marathon on.
The only one watching is an employee,
a man with long neat dreads
and he asks me what I am doing here.
I could only shrug.

This place is the hole and decay of an apple
and I can not even have my shoes.