Slavery

I

when no one speaks the word
   slavery
ghosts haunt the houses
skeletons dance in their chains

our amnesia leads to a new enslavement
voluntarily
we light the match
stick the needle in
lock the prison doors behind us

when no one speaks the words
  Nazi or pogrom
we create our own
concentration camps

working to pay off an empty house
abandoning lovers and dreams
waiting for a cold damp grave

II

trapped in a cube
eight hours a day
unable to see my fellow prisoners

but every move I make is seen
every word is heard

I return to my other prison
where I eat microwaved plastic
and drink sugared caffeine

so that I can sit silently
in front of another machine

and if someone sits beside me
she is also mute
also still

this is how I spend my days
a free man
living in the land
of the 
       free