street dealers

wealth rolled me along

to that madhouse strong they stage

a mind wrong

diamond strong

on the streets carpet I walked in play

crowded in traffic he

places poverty where wrong seemed wise

wild to be

saving me

I found the carnival of faces eyes

myself carnival eyes

cheap prophet myself they

paralysed

blind Inside

the vendors that walked my market raved

Have eyes lost in sights

been mesmerized to see

what have seekers

seen inside

walked the street-wise these scarlet streets

Make these actors blind

that Have seen me lost around

my shut mind

asylum eyed

In these streets their misfit found

* Based on “EARTH’S Answer” from The Songs of Experience by William Blake; with text 100% recycled from the song, “Carnival,” by Natalie Merchant. Before being executed, Aileen Wuornos requested that “Carnival” be played at her funeral.