Invisible Leashes Poem by Butch Decatoria

I know them ties
That bind. The chain necklace noose
The invisible leash
I never knew
How tightly it keeps
How riptide-like
We're pulled back to
Window shopping
Outside
Myself, without self-help
Freedom cries out
For what's beyond
Outside the window
I'm familiar with that pain
Intimate with that feeling
Of Free
To be oneself
Yourself being
Alive without living
Without the chains
Necklace noose
Your very spirit let loose
Was close to that
Feeling of
Free once
I know...

* *

We are shaped into feral creatures in this wilderness of artifice, cages and boxes,
Hearts and minds locked away, dismissed
We are pages without fonts or even thoughts, graphics
Of our own, uninteresting rocks
Heavy yet empty…
We are made into Other
Stoned
Rather than
Our selves / paths chosen for us to be theirs…werk.
We are the beautiful shiny toys
In cellophane, with Invisible leashes
Unused young and new
Until age flashes and crashes
Replaced by something that looks like
Who?
Are you still You? - to You?