David the detainee

by Jim Aitken

Each night last week
I have caught his eyes
pleading for
support and understanding
Daily detainees
for being himself
saying the wrong things
that he thought were right
Speaking out of turn
his essential self
expressing himself
amid hostile glares
As they shout him down
detain him further
for interfering
with assessments
The new addiction
of a sick system
screaming to be free
from doses of tasks
And of pointless tests
that control them all
mould them for the workplace
like work-house before
I think of Hegel
the dialectic
of master and slave
neither of them free
Both suffocating
from the prescription
to avoid real thought
and open windows

Some of Jim’s writings are in From the Front Line of Terror, published by the Stop the War Coalition & the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. £3 from SPSC, Peace & Justice Centre, Princes St., Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ.