Prisoners fought
in Paradise for
wishing well donations.
Nickels and dimes
would not splash
high enough to
extinguish the fire.
Flames were stoked as
air suffocated the
prisoners with charred hope.
Log decks are rotted and
spread across grey
caped greenery.
The Decaying wood is cared for more
than the men and women who
have returned to
their barred barracks.
They were thrown out
of Eden and clothed
with shame as they sit
like remnants of
childhood rooms
as they wilt away.
Clay Hunt is a poet from Modesto, California. He delivers pizzas and is currently being paid minimum wage even though he is considered an “essential worker.”