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All Heaven’s Lights

Pete Miller woke up exasperated—he'd almost caught it but like a thief, the scent had escaped with his dream.. The old cowboy rubbed sleep from his rheumy eyes, wondering… More

Prison Poets

Everywhere solitary prisoners begin to create the words of the new dialogue.- Octavio Paz, 1949 The poet in him flounders in a morass of lies and distortions about his conquered… More

Banana

A spat between two cellies, It helps break post lockdown monotony, The boredom created when locked in a cage, A tiny cage for night's remainder. More

Dog Flips Burgers

Too politically correct to chase cats / Listens to classical music on PBS / Supports union demands / Burns paw on grill / Swats another fly More

Freedom

Prisoners like to talk about the conditions in other prisons, as if the comparison might improve their mood, or give them another reason to voice a complaint. So when… More

A Taste of Honey

It has been a long time since I had seen or tasted honey. When they shoved a tray of mush under the door one morning, I looked at the… More

No Moon

No MoonI was afraid this wouldhappen the way the nightlooks with no moonThe way the wind whistlesoff the back porchYou want to love meHow can I tell youI have… More

In Good Company

IntroductionThere are many different ways to experience life. One of the coldest and loneliest is to be homeless.Imagine yourself standing on the street as the temperature drops. Lights come… More

Untitled

UntitledI wrestle with my morning coffeeshuffling pagesin a trancelike state ofnewspaper consciousness.Bomblast leaves fourteen dead in Mombasa:or was in eighteen? two Isrealis for sureThe Kenyans existin a faded one-liner.West… More

Kaddish

Blackbird singing in the dead of night,Take these broken wings and learn to fly,All your life...You were only waiting for this moment to arrive.—Blackbird, John Lennon and Paul McCartneyFor… More