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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

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

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

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

Recipe For Prison Pruno

Take ten peeled oranges,Jarvis Masters, it is the judgment and sentence of this court,one 8 oz. bowl of fruit cocktail,that the charged information was true,squeeze the fruit into a… More

In the Big Yard

Rumors abound Inmate So-and-So done gotta parole date.Last Monday, but sucker don't evenKnow his woman done run off with "sweet Cadillac Willie"Who spent her welfare check on gasoline an'… More