I look up at you from the bottom of a well 

except I’m so close I could reach out and stroke your cheek 

smell the peppermint on your breath 

watch the mascara stream down your face

my body is no longer mine 

as the metal bed digs into my back

and the machines beep around me 

I call your name but the words tumble into the void

You kiss me but I can’t kiss you back.

*Author’s Notes*

I wrote this for a competition. We had to write about the theme of imprisonment without mentioning our prompt word. We had a limit of nine lines.