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My Redemption


By Mark Brunetti

originally published: 08/18/2014
Every poster, DVD cover, and Wikipedia page shows
that epic moment in Shawshank Redemption
when Andy is kneeling in the water and the rain
looking up at the sky and his moment
of complete freedom after 19 years
and the jail in the distance. People
want to feel like that.

But I want to feel like Andy Dufrane
when he gets the books for the beginning
of the library after 6 years of sending
letters to the state for funding. Having
the thought to now send 2 letters a week
instead of one and becoming more persistent
and becoming even more absurd
locking a guard in the bathroom
and playing a piece from
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro
over the loud speaker to all
the prisoners in the court yard.
And when the warden looks in
I wanna look him in the eye
for a short moment turn the volume up
and turn away knowing that the next day,
I'd return to the courtyard or the hole
or my job or whatever else it was I do
on a daily basis.

Some people want to be on the rooftop
of a building drinking beers after laying
down tar, like waiters and waitresses
taking shots at a bar in the middle
of their shift in front of the customers
to feel more human. Some people
want to feel like that moment
when Andy escapes jail
and is looking up at the sky
with arms outstretched. Not me
I want to live absurdly all the time
and play Mozart over loud speakers
to all the prisoners in the courtyard.


Mark Brunetti recently received his MFA in poetry from William Paterson University. He teaches at Brookdale Community College and Rowen University and will be reading at the upcoming 100,000 poets for change event in Asbury Park on September 27. He publishes the Idiom Magazine an underground literary mag that he disperses for free at readings and shows. You could see the work that he does at http://www.theidiommag.com



 
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