Window casings
hold the stubs
of prison bars
like teeth shorn
from the gums.

Scorching sun
reflects the light
on the ebony wings
of fallen swallows.

A prison within
a prison:
Japanese? No!
American? No!
double Jeopardy.

Tiny white shells
litter the ground.
fossilized tears of
mothers and fathers of
the children of the camps.

Tule Lake, August 1998