{"id":7106,"date":"2016-03-03T16:44:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T23:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=7106"},"modified":"2016-03-03T16:44:16","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T23:44:16","slug":"the-prisoner","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=7106","title":{"rendered":"The Prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Chamberlin<\/strong><\/p>\n

The prisoner behind the door cries softly: I am free
\nand undulates upon the sands beside a distant sea.<\/p>\n

I hasten up the attic stair and fumble at the lock
\nfall in upon the empty room where sits a quiet clock.<\/p>\n

Long seconds pass incredulous — the pendulous design —
\nthe innerworks of brass and spring encased in lustrous pine —<\/p>\n

how came it here, whose shameful need to measure out the day
\nin dying rooms where darkened suns and seasons, shunned, decay?<\/p>\n

Beetle-footed, apprehension chitters to me, rolling dung-balls
\ndown the dim-lit halls, a tiny voice extolling<\/p>\n

mutely, as I drift — its dark regard attends to farther lands
\nthan I know of, wide ancient wastes of winds and endless sands —<\/p>\n

but come to think, did she who came so long ago collect
\nthese things, insisting they were gods — in madness I suspect.<\/p>\n

those paroxysmic times aroused demented fantasies
\nbut hers — hers pulsed somehow, her talk of singularities<\/p>\n

within each clock. Insanity! Conceive of this: a boll
\nof seedling worms that swallow time at every hour\u2019s toll!<\/p>\n

The holy men who, pillar-braced, expounded on eternal grace
\ngrew dark to hear of gods so near, and so infernal.<\/p>\n

Crucifixions failed, though. Vast incurable flocks amassed,
\na singing congeries swinging thurible clocks.<\/p>\n

All as one they trill the worm-song! Convolving through the halls.
\nHe comes, he comes, they hum, and crack their clocks against the walls.<\/p>\n

We prisoned her within these rooms — long years I held the key —
\nthrough the floors her susurrations filtered down to me.<\/p>\n

The songs she sang so soft and low and ever slowing — from
\nbelow my own rough singing rose to join her gentle sough —<\/p>\n

And none must ever know! I turn, intent to disappear —
\nbut cannot go, for something pulls my limbs and holds me here.<\/p>\n

I shout aloud — but cannot hear — I fling me out the door —
\nand slam it shut — then look around — the clock stands on the floor.<\/p>\n

and wakens, wheels softly ticking! Whereon I gape agog,
\nas coiled chain-weights shudder, leaping swiftly cog to cog<\/p>\n

Visions birthed of meshing teeth commence, of marbled bones
\nthat spill immense from ruined graves beneath a hill of stones.<\/p>\n

I grip it up and peevish peer beyond the clouded glass
\nwhere through a tiny aperture the stony planets pass.<\/p>\n

Vast surfaces wheel into view across the boundless cold
\nand tumble out of mind once more immeasurably old.<\/p>\n

There ships as great as cities wait, aslump in hasty weft
\nof scaffolding, which crumbles slow into the ashy drift.<\/p>\n

What am I witness to, what end? Could in a clock expire
\nas well as misbegotten hours whole galaxies entire?<\/p>\n

Beauty throngs within me! Welling quickly from me spilling
\ncomes my lonely ululation, swelling to a trilling —<\/p>\n

I crouch and caper by the stair! Then pluck up wheel and spring
\nand leaping naked in the air I swallow every thing.<\/p>\n

The clock\u2019s cold entrails move through mine as joyfully I jape
\nthen void upon the bloody steps an earthy clicking shape.<\/p>\n

With time adrift as blue as babes abandoned on the floe
\nI belch a noxious gnomon breath to measure ebb and flow.<\/p>\n

While this upon the floor, new thing, gives birth to swelling song,
\nI raise it high for all to see and gambol through the throng,<\/p>\n

whose eyeless faces weep in joy as pendulous they sway
\nI dance above their humming heads and frolic in the fray.<\/p>\n

In rhythm to my noisome dance She whistles from the dune
\nand calms the restless ice-wolves gathered underneath the moon.<\/p>\n

MATTHEW CHAMBERLIN<\/strong> teaches at James Madison University in Virginia, where he also writes. He has work forthcoming in Strangelet<\/em>, Apex<\/em> and Star*line<\/em> and a published poem in Mirror Dance<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Chamberlin The prisoner behind the door cries softly: I am free and undulates upon the sands beside a distant sea. I hasten up the attic stair and fumble at the lock fall in upon the empty room where sits … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":7101,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7106","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P15duy-1QC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7117,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7106\/revisions\/7117"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}