Blog

Filter By:

AdvocacyAnalysisBlogCommentaryDramaEssayEventFeatureFictionGraphic NarrativeInterviewMemoirNewsObituaryOpen LetterPoetryPress ReleaseProfile

Browse By Series:

PEN Poetry Series •  Prison WritingThe PEN Ten InterviewsIllustrated PEN • Pen PalsThe PEN World

Browse By Email Subscription:

PEN America NewsEducational Censorship NewsWorks of Justice 

Wrong Decision

CAST OF CHARACTERSRobert: picked to do a “hit” on one of his fellow gang members, who has used up drugs belonging to the gangDavid: member of the same gang,… More

Heavy Hearts

Scene 1 SETTING: The lobby of the Administrative Building of Texas’ Death Row. A leather couch sits in the middle of the lobby. In front of the couch is… More

King’s Highway

FADE IN: INT. 10 - NORTH OF VANCOUVER, WASH. - PRE-DAWNAERIAL SHOT - TRACKING 18-wheeler owned by David Calarence “DC” Hawkins and Dabney "Doobie” DuBoise SFX KEITH WHITLEY “MARINA… More

Second Chances

INT. LAVON FAMILY LIVING ROOM -- NIGHTSAMMIE, a fleshy 10-year-old child wearing Incredible Hulk Pajamas, rises from the love seat with cordless phone in hand. Absent-mindedly turning the lamp… More

A Twisted Evening With Dr. Gonzo

My early literary influences naturally gravitated towards counterculture writing that started with Kerouac’s On the Road, Ginsberg’s epic poem of the Beat Generation, Howl, and experiencing the utter depths… More

A Higher Morality

I. A Moral Revolution Martin Luther King, Jr., at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and facing three centuries of hatred, racism, and oppression, had a powerful message for… More

Pieces of a Dream

Pieces of a DreamSmacking gum, smiling, and wearing atight mini-mini that barely coversthe imagination, she looks like shebelongs in a junior high somewhere—and even that might be a stretch.It’s… More

Learning to Swim

Gary Shively 103443 Powhatan Correctional Center, D7 State Farm, VA 23160 I am sinking. Just like a stone, I am sinking. Coils from the black icy depths pulling me under. My scream is… More