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      August 24, 2015Watching the Wizard of Oz in PrisonAce Boggess

      we sit there straining & stiff
      in straight-backed chairs
       
      half a dozen of us
      following Dorothy’s naïve plunge
       
      into trouble & Technicolor
      a fantasy less enchanting
       
      than in the innocence of our youth
      what is Dot but a body dressed in innocence?
       
      her Betty Boop oh-mys
      her dance-stepping along the avenues
       
      like a skipped stone or drop of paint
      from a bucket left on a booming speaker &
       
      how she makes friends with strangers
      what her mama warned her about
       
      more likely to encounter one of us
      cowardly heartless & out of our minds
       
      we forgive her this slip-up
      having come with her so far
       
      we go on following at a safe distance
      like guardian angels with bloody swords &
       
      when we arrive at the Emerald City
      we sneak thief-like through the gates
       
      wanting to see her achieve her goal
      which is the same as ours

      from #48 - Summer 2015

      Ace Boggess

      “Looking back at my years in prison, I often realize how absurd things seem compared to what the average person might expect. If I were watching a reality show like Lock-up or a TV series like, coincidentally, Oz, how likely is it that I would see a bunch of cons sitting around watching an old fantasy like The Wizard of Oz. Nonetheless, it happened. So, I put that down on paper. I love to write about the absurd in my life probably more than anything else. It allows me to make a serious point while laughing all the way.”

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