Writing Freedom’s Wings

The pen was the key
to the poet’s voice;
the guards took it,
and with it the poet’s choice.

But they could not take 
unspoken words,
could not stop images 
forming into nouns and verbs,

which became feathers 
and then wings.
Justice knows 
why the caged poet sings.

Kim M. Russell, 16th May 2023

Image by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash

It’s Tuesday and time for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, where we are uncaging the poet with Parallax Paul from down under.

Paul invites us to do justice and write poems about writers who are ‘caged, incarcerated or harassed, often for no reason other than the act of writing’.  He says that there isn’t ‘one continent or nation where this hasn’t been true at some point, and currently there are many, including poets, who remain imprisoned for their craft across the world’.  

He invites us to write poems, using any form, highlighting the plight of those poets imprisoned for their craft. It doesn’t have to be a formal protest about the poet’s circumstance, it can be a letter (epistle) of encouragement to the poet, a documentary of their life as a writer, an allegory perhaps. But we must speak to justice for the poet as voice to the world.

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23 thoughts on “Writing Freedom’s Wings”

  4. Kim, there is no stopping poets. That’s what makes them so dangerous to those who imprison them. I like how the repression morphed into the wings of freedom in your poem ❤

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. I so love the flow of metaphor Kim, the pen as key is such a powerful opening, and words to feathers/wings, this lifts me on its wings of inner hope. Thank you for taking part.

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. Justice knows
    why the caged poet sings

    It is imperatively necessary for a poet to voice out his thoughts as he fights only with his pen. Love the analogy Kim!

    Hank

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Lovely poem and very true, but not just with poetry. People feel the need to clip the wings of the creative. Last week, I wrote a story on my blog about an elf, and his town who followed the Task Master and lost their creativity.

    Liked by 1 person

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