-after Matthea Harvey   

An iris grows out of an electrical outlet, petals shedding bitter tears of sadness as the mermaid stares on in a diaphanous hospital gown, shut off from the outside. The blossom speaks of the natural world, of electric blue roses with jagged petals in the middle of the desert, of silver heart-winged butterflies flying towards luminous magenta starlight. Sometimes she wonders, does time move the same way outside the sea foam green confines of this endless maze, or does it flow freely, unbound by icy bars grasping at the windows? What her heart wants–the fall of the sizzling rain reeling from an amber sky–hides behind translucent barricades of chilly solidity. It holds memories of moments when she watched the world's cleansing from the safety of a patio porch swing, each drop rushing towards the earth from the hands of malicious angels.

Still, the rain can’t reach the occupants of the forsaken labyrinth locked in and staring through the windows. Madness seeps in beneath the artificial sky, a cheap imitation of the ever-changing heavenly window from which the burning orange rain tumbles. Tanzanite bottles filled with jade and coral pills cannot take away the stifling insanity in which the mermaid is entwined, surrounded from corner to sharp corner by a myriad of outcasts in shapes unlimited and a variety of colors rivaling a sweeping rainbow. They bicker, grappling with warring points of view as they try to escape the world behind the windows. How much longer will the walls close in, wrapping around the mermaid, a horde of screeching gray harpies, a cyclops with an opal eye, and a rancid young ogre forever spewing crude lies from his mouth?

Outside, the sun sends searing beams hurtling through the atmosphere, covering everything roaming free. Violet dahlias and silver dragons bask in the platinum rays, looking in through the windows at the mosaic of captives. They wonder about what goes on inside as the outcasts stare back, envy radiating from their eyes.