Freeing Cletus
For more than three years
I have been walking across the wooden footbridge
Over the Huron River near the Geddes dam.
For more than three years
I have passed by the graffiti
On the south steel arc
That says “Free Cletus.”
Most times these days
I pay no attention to Cletus.
But every now and then,
I do wonder.
Who is Cletus? Did he get freed?
Was he in a jail, or was he only locked up in the prison of his mind?
Who wanted to free him?
Who recognized his confinement, and cared?
Does the county ever clean graffiti away?
Or am I in a place like that mansion with the wall out front on Myliussstrasse in Frankfurt, Germany,
Where the graffiti, in German, seems to last for decades,
Untouched?
Should I add my own message?
“I pray for you, Cletus”?
“Do you like espresso, Cletus”?
“Cletus, are you free now?”
I have never written my own graffiti.
I guess I won’t start now, not even for Cletus.
But if I ever decide to, Cletus will be the reason why.
