The Scattered Thoughts of a Deviate

The protagonist in "The Scattered Thoughts of a Deviate", the condemned man Prisoner 541, is found in a cell awaiting his execution. In a series of connected poems (in free verse and prose poetry) he reveals his crimes and the "crimes" committed against him. He does not accept, however, that the murders he has committed are the real reason for his impending execution; rather, he is convinced he is being executed, like Jesus, for the crimes of sedition and treason against the State and apostasy and blasphemy against the Church.