The Pre-Trial Confinement of Private Bradley Manning

To drive a man to suicide you put
Him on suicide watch, you take away
His sheet and pillow, all his clothes except
His underwear, you shine a light in day

And night, you confiscate his eyeglasses,
Then you deny that he’s in solitary.
You say he lives in his own cell. Sightless.
Each day he gets to walk around an empty

Room for an hour. No pushups, no jogging in place.
He’s not the first one held as an example.
Amnesty reports it seeks redress
As month by month both mind and body crumple.

The Marines treat every detainee
Firmly, fairly, and with dignity.

The New York Times, January 26, 2011

from And Short the Season, W.W. Norton, 2014