Locked up together, the speaker and his cellmate watch geese gathered along the courtyard wall. The birds look almost like black-and-white guards themselves, but they also hold what the men want: wings. The two prisoners drift into thinking about the freedom of flight—leaving the jail behind, moving past the glass, feeling the breeze and the speed of clouds. “Jail mentality” suggests that even their way of seeing is shaped by confinement; they notice guards, walls, barriers. The word “fatted” adds a small complication—these geese may also be kept or fed by others—but from inside they still seem to belong to the open air. The mood is quiet and aching, not loud or angry. It is a moment of shared longing, with ordinary birds becoming a painful reminder of life outside.
Jail Mentality — Summary
Our jail mentality has us observing the fatted Geese lining the courtyard walls.
Black and white sentinels, guards, while my celly and I thought: the freedom of birds, flights out of here, past the glass. Breezes, the speed of clouds.