verbal judo

daily, I go nose to nose with those,
who've committed the most vicious of crimes

they spew verbal lashings
bitch slap with one liners
and attempt to grapple my mind with words

a warehouse of hand-cuffed souls
yelling out their unshackled blows
from behind bars, no holds barred
from those physically and mentally scarred

their attempts to bring me down
with vulgar tongue piercing sounds
generally go in one ear and out the other

in and out of these prison bars
I have to stay on my guard
because occasionally I have to use
more than verbal judo