Court Life Poem by David McLansky

In my lonely solitary Art
The record of how I’ve lived apart
My compulsive frenzy to document
My confusion over my life events;
How rudely I am forsworn
By lovers now who would do me harm;
I testify in my own defense
To justify my long laments
Who is my Judge when I prosecute
With accusations that I refute
Standing in the witness box
I sway, I twitch, I fear the block;
And yet I write, I testify
To bare the truth before I die.