By CJ Muchhala

I am like the canary that saved men’s lives.
No wire cage for me but a barred cell—
a square in which I could not stretch 
my wings nor flap from perch to perch 
nor pace.
 
I knew darkness night and day though
lights glared, gutting all shadows, even 
my own. 

I heard the music of steel clanging, 
keys jangling, but did not sing or speak.
Words half forgotten clogged 			
my throat.					

Today they left my cell door open,
prodded me to leave. Wings weak 
from disuse, a croak for my voice,
I am free—not knowing how
to be.

Author’s Note: We learned, through the pandemic lockdown and since, how destructive social isolation is to a human’s mental as well as physical health. Concern for “ordinary” folks was widespread. Yet the United States keeps thousands of men and women incarcerated in U.S. prisons in solitary confinement–unofficially known as “the Hole”–some for decades, in spite of the UN declaring the practice a form of torture. The latest statistics from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/24/us-solitary-confinement-prisons