{"id":555,"date":"2019-03-08T18:56:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T18:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.wpcomstaging.com\/?p=555"},"modified":"2019-03-08T18:56:12","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T18:56:12","slug":"monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"Monsters"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONSTERS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Weighed, measured and found wanting. Of good character deemed short<\/p>\n

Society\u2019s dirty little secret, like a turd, flushed from court.<\/p>\n

Stuck-up judge, stitched-up witness and lawyers all in the game<\/p>\n

My frantic fingered frenzy finding anybody else to blame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never satisfied, I wanted more than the mug\u2019s life waiting for me<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll stand up and be counted, rise above the streets that bore me.<\/p>\n

Not for me the corporate clock-in; the arse-kissing and kneeling<\/p>\n

My fast track future is on the street – ducking, diving and dealing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A cookie-cut criminal me, from the same mould with the same story<\/p>\n

Same sweat box and same prison cell like the thousands lost before me.<\/p>\n

I was proving my uniqueness as a prisoner to predictability<\/p>\n

Rebelliously conforming to the stereotypes expected of me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A bellowing window warrior, uttering guttural defiance<\/p>\n

More of me wasted in futile feuds before embracing compliance.<\/p>\n

Listen to that mirror man\u2019s voice; perhaps it\u2019s not too late<\/p>\n

He too knew what was coming; we both foretold my fate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I blanked out his warnings; ignored screams and pleaded cries<\/p>\n

A passenger in my own life, self-medicating with blatant lies.<\/p>\n

Pleasing everybody but me, following other men\u2019s ambitions<\/p>\n

I never wondered what I wanted, wandered into broke traditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I fought to get up off the streets, with an aimless determination<\/p>\n

I\u2019d have clung like moss to those cobbled cracks if I\u2019d known my destination.<\/p>\n

Those broken boulevards of busted brick had never before seemed greener<\/p>\n

Perhaps one day I\u2019ll make it back with my newfound humble demeanour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But will there be no happy ending here? No getting free and clear?<\/p>\n

When a breath, an instant, a flash, one deed can cast a shadow for years.<\/p>\n

My pox-scarred reputation before me like a leper bells chime<\/p>\n

Warning to steer clear of me or be a statistic, a victim, a crime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tiptoed Tightrope terror, forever on eggshells walking.<\/p>\n

Whispers, glances \u201cDon\u2019t look now but…\u201d faceless voices talking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he out already? Where\u2019s the justice in that\u201d hear the lynch mob call<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not safe with him on the streets. Get him back behind those walls\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But now the ball is in your hands, you have your part to play<\/p>\n

While I am now behind barbed wire, I\u2019ll be back on our streets one day.<\/p>\n

You fear the monsters behind these walls, there are monsters here, no doubt<\/p>\n

But your fear of what\u2019s behind these walls, makes you my monsters on the out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONSTERS   Weighed, measured and found wanting. Of good character<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[247,345],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-life-in-prison","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jailhousemoose.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}