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Alta Bates, Herrick Campus

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan,
A stately pleasure-dome decree
That life is full of wonder
and the world full of beauty.
But this is not Xanadu
and they are not Kahn.
Here all hope is gone
as the majority tramples the few.

Here an Eidolon named NIGHT
Sits on a black throne and reigns upright,
While I drown in this city in the sea.
No one seems to listen
or care
or hear
As I scream "RELEASE ME."

Author notes

I was held for thirty-eight days against my will at the Alta Bates hospital for trying to kill myself. I wrote this while I was in there because of how they were treating me. I sincerely and severely hate that place.

Oh, and if you didn't catch it, this poem references a poem by Coleridge and two poems by Poe.

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Comments


  • Haley-baby1
    May 5
    Edit | Reply
    and i love kubla kahn. i did interpretive art on that


  • Haley-baby1
    May 3

    Edit | Reply
    "while i drown in this city in the sea"
    i love that.
    i can understand captivity. my husband held me for 6 months. i wrote alot of poems.
    i'm upset that you did what you did to get there though. i like you. stick around, just for me


  • alpPDCjr12
    May 3
    Edit | Reply
    Yes I got the poe reference "city in the sea" excellent poem. I also recognize the first line of stanza two as some sort of allusion to poe, with the word NIGHT in all caps, but I don't know where I saw it. I haven't read much by Coleridge. What are the other two references?