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Father

At 13, banished from homehe learned not to trust.Brilliant, he doubted his brilliance,and crept downstairs to grab exam resultsbefore others. To no one’s surprisebut his, he had topped the… More

Chris Early: Sheryl

Legs parted like a pie with one slice eaten inside a la mode thighs angle over sour sheets. They are silk. A guitar sleeps beside her, always, and I am stoned again, nude, seated on carpet, waiting… More

Panopticon

So again this vista is eroding. The buildings dim. The women doze in their Steel and stone barns, their toil Having been state approved, the sheets Bleached harmless and stacked on the tables By… More

Prison Moon

Four a.m. work duty and I beginmy solitary trudge from outer compoundto main building. A shivering guard,chilled in his lonely outpost, strip searchesme until content that my inconsequential nudity.poses… More

Journal of a Prisoner

October 27, 1998I began this day much like I begin every day here in prison. I woke at about 6 a.m. to pill call. I always wake up hearing… More

Cadaver

Honorable Mention, PoetryOptics only 9 yrs in usesaw the needlefilled with very little bloodhanging in the vein of the tied armThe arm hanging from a manlying in a refrigeratorin… More

A Song of Death

There's a bird caught in the airduct that blows his dying song through the vent scared and beautiful resounding memories of the birds of childhood More