“House Arrest” and “This is a Poem”- Two Poems by Sam Zamrik

House Arrest 

 I was once a prisoner. 
 Prisoners are often kept 
 behind bars and gates, 
 under lock and key, 
                           but not me. 


 I was a prisoner 
 behind a screen. 
 A window screen, 
 a wire mesh 
 stained with blood 
 and the putrid flesh 
 of a hundred flies. 


 My keeper kept me 
 under, complacent. 
 My keeper kept me 
 small, misplaced 
 in space and without time. 


 I left my prison a wraith 
 of my heaving breast 
 and sycophant cries 
 that never dry. 
                           I am not yet free.

 

This is a Poem

 This is a poem, it starts with a comma splice and 
 Enjambs the 

 Verse at odd 
 Places and leaves 
 Your eyes stuck on the previous 
 Line, though this one is more important 

 Because the stanza ended on it 
 Now your mind is stuck 
 In the previous stanza 
 Though this one has already begun 
 Without warning 
 Or time to catch up 
 Here it happens 

 Again! 
 You have arrived at 
 The new 
 Stanza, but do you know 
 Yet whether they 
 Are connected? 

 I never understood 
 Why the first 
 Letter of each line must be 
 Capitalized 
 And why 
 Punctuation at the end 
 Is always overlooked 
 As though writing vertically 

 Emancipates words 
 From the finality 
 Of periods 
 As though 

 The column of text 
 Is somehow floating 
 In abstract space 
 And not depressed into
 Trees that were envious 
 Of our vocal ornaments 
 Before their death Or 
 into 
 Binaries 
 Whence worlds 
 Emerge.