William Miller
88A043 B-5-26
Box B
Dannemora, NY 12929

Strip Search

I am standing nude
to the left
of a half open window
in the middle of October
and the cool air
chills me
like an artificial kiss.
I am being shook down
by a hammer-head shark
whose eyes streak me
as if a circle
of red white and blue
were painted midway
between waist and collar-bone.
He hates me
like an unpaid bill.
“Bend over
and toe-touch the floor”
he says.