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police teeth

I have marks
all over my body
I'm innocent
of everything
except free-thinking
but that's not
a crime,
is it?

I haven't been
reading the paper
or watching the news
& I've only been
listening
to the voices 
in my head

arguing over words
& the meanings
of words
& how they all
fit together

the voices
demand my attention
asking me to
string the words
together

I sat slumped over 
the interrogation table. 
they'd taken
my cigarettes
so I asked the
big dumb cop
for one.

they've had me
in this room
for 12 hours now

the words pile up
until I'm drunk on them
they pile up
until they spill out
of my hand, out
of my mouth
and they stain
the paper

maybe you can
make some
sense of it.

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