Our Lady of the Lamp
     jack mothershed


A corridor of darkness
Bookended by Academia
Not an aerie No
A warrior's  Eagle
mars the military mountainside
scars the landscape
pollutes a potential paradise
Elsewhere in the corridor
sheriffs stockade stumblers
Elsewhere still
California Men's Colony
a euphemism  
Timothy Leary once 
called home
He who broke
The Cider House Rules
From this "lepers" "colony" 
a light flickers persistently for the
convicted come creative writers
lights pages of plays
crafted by criminals
spotlights actors who 
once were conmen
The light catalyzes the
hopeless to hopeful
helpless to helpful
harmful to harmless
felons to fellows
Her spark kindles
candles
in the Corridor of
Darkness
Bookended by Academia