Picture a convict in an orange jumper.
He sits in shade beneath a banyan tree,
legs lotus- & buddha-like,
a flushed glow around him.
Between his wrists are shackles & a bowl.
I can tell that he has answers:
how to live, love, be both a prisoner &
free. Sage, saint, assassin,
Übermensch, & Everyman.
The cops who come to shoot him kneel.
The crowd thrums with anticipation.
When he speaks, no words come out.
Everyone awakens from a dream.
Ace Boggess is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy. His writing has appeared in Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Hanging Loose, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes, watches Criterion films, and tries to stay out of trouble. His forthcoming books include poetry collections, My Pandemic / Gratitude List from Mōtus Audāx Press and Tell Us How to Live from Fernwood Press, and his first short-story collection, Always One Mistake, from Running Wild Press.