The Arsenal

I construct my fortress carefully,

with words and verses, catch

phrases and platitudes, theologies

of my imagination, to articulate

or simply utter, in growling tones,

to fend off the evils outside,

discovering too late that I’ve

imprisoned the evil within.

This poem is submitted for the One Word Blog Carnival hosted by Peter Pollock. To see more submissions, please visit Peter’s site.

This poem is also submitted for Open Link Night at dVerse Poets. The links will be live at 2 p.m. Central time today.

Illustration: The St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center, constructed in 1869 at the St. Louis County Insane Asylum, is located on Arsenal Street in St. Louis and for years was known as the “Arsenal Street Asylum” or simply “the Arsenal.” Today, it seeks to help people return to society, as opposed to keeping them away from society.