unblindfolded

Unblindfolded / I've silenced everything / cigar in mouth / it's in the silencing / I've found a defense mechanism / so that they can never introduce their genetic code / into my chromosomes / a grimace / instead / I do not smile / I hold myself / until a glacial cold / penetrates me / penetrates you / to the heart / (the chemical signals / that circulate in me / which you can see with the naked eye / are capable of dying out / like all artificially / introduced genes) Freeze frame on image.

In one of them blindfolded children were racing to feed another one, unblindfolded, a whole pot of runny-looking chocolate pudding.

With a social worker and a psychiatrist as troop leaders, forays into the woods become "trust hikes" with the unblindfolded leading the blindfolded, and in-prison visits include the shared activity of making masks to uncover uncomfortable truths.