Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom

The Loophole

proved only enough room

to feed a thread to floss

her teeth with, and the rope

of her dark hair was only

enough to hang her by,

and not enough to touch

the ground, or raise a sail.

Now, if she were the kind

of girl whose hair would grow

forever down her back,

maybe some bold out-of-towner

would have clambered up,

but she never was that kind,

and wasn't the other kind,

either.  Maybe there's her

crime.  So what was left? 

She fashioned a tightrope,

that led from the curtain

rod at her window, across

the canopy posts of her twin

platform bed, then took

the rest, coiled up

a roll of packing twine --

that came in handy for

those contraband shipments

of canvas and watercolor,

sent to her only niece,

her sole acts of sedition.

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