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"Room with No View"

Published:
January 9, 2024
February 13, 2020
Read "Room with No View", a poem about freedom.|Read "Room with No View", a poem about freedom.|Read "Room with No View", a poem about freedom.|Read "Room with No View", a poem about freedom.|"Room with No View"

One day walking past I wonder
why there are red bars on the roof.

Until someone tells me
it’s a correctional facility.

And then, ​oh,​ ​I see​, I say
that the cage-like enclosure is their outdoor space.

Chicken wire keeps them perched above Central Park
And a view anyone would kill for, and probably has.

It overlooks Harlem Meer, the peaceful water
and playground noises below.

But down they go to their rooms
with boarded-up windows, barred from the world —

Just inches beyond a door which leads to the
biggest green space in Manhattan.

Would it make a difference, I wonder,
that your room could have an incredible view?

Maybe it’s better not to know.

Creators:
Mary Grace Mangano
Published:
January 9, 2024
February 13, 2020
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