"No Place Like Home" (National Poetry Month poem-a-day) Day 6
Written by Bruce A.
Pandolfo
4/6/2017
Early
90's, Neil White, collared
for
kiting, white collar crime, caught him
juggling
checks for nearly 800,000 dollars
Ritzy
lives lost well, its not very hard, still...
it
isn't easy seeing a father shipped off to Carville
Neil
gets driven to the Louisiana prison,
quiet
drive with livid Linda, crimson with derision,
Isn't
thrilled with visits, early by 45 minutes,
When
Neil arrives, a guy waves, toothless grinning,
he
double-takes...something's different
zoom-in
shot on a gnarled set of mittens,
Realizes
the welcoming committees'
twisted
hand is missing digits!
Neil
asked the guard for identification,
the
guard says, “that's no inmate, its a patient”
Neil
gets anxious, angst invades him
is
this a betrayal of imagination,
Who is
he locked away with?
Is he
hallucinating?
The
condition of his hands indebted to Hanson's disease,
Carville
was the countries' final Leprosy colony
1894
the home opened up to quarantine,
marooned
the ruined people,
outcasts like little Mr. Pete
Resident
since he was 6,
Now
Mr. Pete is in his 70's
Neil
is terror stricken at the very thought of Leprosy
“Scared
figuring this'll disfigure or be the death of me”
Definitely
interesting to see perceptions, see
Mr.
Pete prefers to “live here to the end of me”
These
limbless locked in limbo
“Secret
People” stifled by stigma
Hushed,
ushered, herded by sure force
from
fear of a limb lopping enigma
When
doctors discovered the disease wasn't contagious
It may
seem strange or outrageous
but
most remained at Carville, and stayed “patients”
Duffy
frugally fitted the facility part prison
Now
the inmates and abandoned are companions co-existing
Ella
said “There's no place like home” when she met him
shipped
in when she was six and now she's 80, “no one visits”
Of the
many Neil befriended THAT put his “problems” in perspective
He
humbly chats and helps with errands whenever people let him
A year
or so later, Neil had the good fortune of leaving
he's
reminded “good fortune” was his imprisonment's antecedent,
Though
many patients made an exodus,
Mr.
Pete kept his residence
and
now he feels blessed that
he has
Carville to himself,
he
rides his bike through halls,
Here
and there Neil calls,
Mr.
Pete stays closed off
fears
scrutiny from everyone else.
Mr.
Pete decrees he'd be at ease if he
were
guaranteed to be buried 'neath Carville's Pecan tree,
Admittedly
he isn't too interested in seeing the country,
“people
in New York busy busy doing nothin but they're busy.”
and in
a way, it may be hard to see what he's missing...
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