“The Labyrinth” by Sky McKinnon

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You’re listening to Poetry Month on The Voice of Dog.

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This is Rob MacWolf

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your fellow traveler, and Today

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we present a poem

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by Sky McKinnon,

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who won 2nd place in quarter 2 of L.

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Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the future.

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Their short story

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“The Edge of Where My Light is Cast”

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will be published May 7th, 2024,

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and is available for preorder on Amazon

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as well as an upcoming story

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“Meet Cute” in Thurston Howl’s “Night of the Howling Dead,”

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expected later this year.

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For more information, you can follow Sky on

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bluesky. Please enjoy

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“The Labyrinth”, a poem by Sky McKinnon

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In the middle of a city is a cage.

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You aren't thrown in,

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you're born without being issued habeus corpus,

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without being read your rights.

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You're a monster. You know that

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because that's what they call you.

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That's what's written on the wall.

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It's written in your blood.

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When you grow so big that the bars can't hold you any more, you think you're free

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but there are walls everywhere.

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Your life is made up of cells

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from the crib in your mom's apartment

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to the brick red radio crooning and

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slices of the galaxy.

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Even your body is made up of little prison blocks,

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little beasts putting in hard time

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to get you out of bed in the morning.

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You get up and walk with your right hand

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on the wall, you should be getting somewhere

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but you keep circling steel giants

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and only their mirrors can hold the big blue sky.

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This planet has a hold on you.

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Gravity keeps pulling you in

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and you hope it's for a loving embrace.

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Mother nature loves her monsters.

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She's got a picture of a minotaur inside her purse.

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She's got a picture of you.

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And even though she tells you to be good,

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she knows a hero

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will knock on your door,

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and she prays for you to break his bones.

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This was “The Labyrinth”

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by Sky McKinnon,

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read for you by READER, with CALLSIGN.

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Thank you for listening

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to The Voice of Dog.