Shut Up

So he’s shut up. Vilified:
an unpatriotic recalcitrant,

gagged for penning
‘Imperialist turpitude’, then

summoned, sentenced
to ‘purgation’ in Tehran’s

Evin Prison. How the writer
finally escapes, his fingers

nearly crushed and chopped. Has
himself smuggled, his heart

simmering with a whim
‘freedom of speech’, democracy

etc. Then branded ‘illegal
immigrant’ and caged in a camp

in Australia for three years, before
‘temporary protection’ after

his wrists have been indented
by his own razor, a rib fractured

by an overweight guard. He wants
to return to writing, but anger

blocks the passage of language
from the heart to the page. So he’s

shut up.