Solitary Confinement Poem by Deluke Muwanigwa

Solitary Confinement

I live in solitary confinement
A prison made of layers upon layers of assumptions
Reinforced by my belief systems
Traditions
Truisms
Rituals
All wrapped up under my skin

From the day i was born
I began building walls
My mother loved me as her son
Wrapped me up in a certain way
Different than Joe Sop
Thereby creating the first difference
Laying foundations for my confinement
Thereafter wall building i did subconsciously.

As i grew older i thought my wall was thinner than the next kid
And sought to make it even thicker.
My siblings lovingly fought me
Creating layers of walls
My education taught me the right way
And supposedly the wrong way
Adding to my confinement
Today i am always looking for the right way
And most times blinker away from the real way.

The Boys Brigade
The Boy Scouts
Heaping convention upon rigid convention
Erecting walls
In religious halls
I am good if i did this
Rude if i did that
Reinforcing my prison walls

And now i wonder if its not too late to breakout
To transcend
Pull these unnecessary walls down
The paradox is, am i not creating new cells?
Fighting my confinement?
Is it even there?
And not just a figment of my imagination
Something i feel but never feel to touch

To be fair
There is peace in solitary confinement
Where i am me, myself and i
The only master of my soul and spirit
The only wearer of my skin
But, alas, i have missed so many trains
Stuck in solitary confinement
My solitary confinement.

C.12022022