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Heidi Franke Apr 2018
I Accept The Call

Collect call from Salt Lake County jail
If you accept,
Press 7.
Seven is a lucky number.
Not feeling lucky today
He is in jail again
For violation
Of Mental Health Court.
I accept the call.

Jail for mothers of sons
In jail, I imagine being like
Steel wombs, without the mother.

There are no pillows
No pleasant toiletries
No longer do I worry about
How long the refrigerator door
Has been open while he looks for
"Something to eat" in his bag of commissary.

There is no mama's kitchen.
No sofa to pine on.
Your laments only echoing
off cement.
What is your excuse this time
For violating the rules
At your new mothers home
You must know by now
There are no soft goodnight words
Just the stained metal
Slamming closed

May you keep your sanity
While doing your time
And remember the words
Radical acceptance
Practice balancing your
Emotional, rational
and wise mind
Maintain focus and resolve
To never, never, never give up.
I'll take that call now
I accept.
Nicholas Fonte Apr 2018
My rage continues to build
Behind this glass of a cell
This is not what I willed
My soul will burn endlessly by this window sill
But I suppose I should be thankful
My flames will not be able to burn you
And its glow is insightful
I will remain here amidst my blue
Sarah Mar 2018
Twisted thoughts escape his dry, cherry red lips; cracked, koolaid stained skin that admit to traumatic events unfolded.

I can’t peel my eyes away from his pale figure; a contrast to his orange get up.

The words smoothly falling out of his mouth, send shivers down my spine.
No one would consider his brain is rattling off recounts of that night while his inner friends help him remember the picture of her body that is burned into his brain- a contorted mind exposed.

Cooked flesh is the aroma he gives off and I gag, he stole my love and her smell still lingers; taunting me of an instance where I couldn’t be a hero.

The gavel pounds down and the cloaked man declares his fate.
As the newly added cold metal traps him into a life of isolation, he looks at me.
His ****** lips curl into a sneer as he is hauled back to hell.
Written 1/7/18
Hannah Clifford Feb 2018
I was twelve years old when I got arrested, they brought me to the cells and took my mugshot… reminding me that I will never be free.
I learned when to speak.
Only when you're asked,
never put your head up,
don't you dare share an opinion, even if it's in class.
I learned that my life…
Was never truly mine to begin with. Just something another person can use at their whim, then dispose of.
I was twelve years old the first time I got arrested. They put me in cold metal cuffs and threw the key into rivers of tears I have yet to shed, but will come.
I was twelve years old the first time that I was arrested. My life looked bleak and I could no longer speak because my mind was not my own.
The took a permanent felt tip marker and wrote their names on me.
I was twelve years old the first time I was forced to be something I'm not. I was tortured until they found what they wanted. They proceed to shackle me with trends to follow, cover me in my prison uniform of tight skirts and crop tops, and read me my rights. Though it's clear to me now that i have none
I was twelve years old the first time I got arrested.
Change the laws and let us free. Let me once again know what sunlight feels like upon my shoulders without the restraints of people trying to diminish difference in the world, when all I wish to do is preserve it.
I was twelve the first time I was arrested….
I was charged with the act of being myself, and sentenced to life without parole.
Amanda Kay Burke Feb 2018
I sit enclosed in my prison cell,
Days passing me by in a blur,
Have I lived here for months or years?
Of that I can't say for sure.

Time is twisted up in knots,
Tangled in a crooked maze,
With no clock to keep tabs on it,
The hours are pulled a thousand ways.

These walls seem like they are closing in,
Carefully shifting and changing shape,
I look for a way out of this hell,
But these bars carry no escape.

My prison bears no windows,
It's doors of steel stand strong,
Fear is tearing down my spirit,
I've been here far too long.

I'm held captive in this place,
A hostage to circumstance,
Frozen by broken regret,
I'm trapped in some awful trance.

I act like a puppet, I'm a slave,
To my residual anger and pain,
Instead of me, my emotions are,
Controlling the strings inside of my brain.

I don't understand why I am still bound,
To the cage, my heart resides in,
Each moment I try to free myself,
I am kept back down by sin.

I am shackled to my suffering,
And these bonds are too hard to break,
The cuffs I wear are cast from sorrow,
And the chains forged from heartache.

I'm imprisoned in my own weakness,
A jail of my imaginative design,
I gaze at my reflection,
I honestly can't believe it's mine.

When will I unlock the exit,
So I can open the door finally?
Maybe when I come to realize,
That i am the one who holds the key.
I wrote this on 9/22/17

Feedback is welcomed.
Tess Jan 2018
I may be forgotten by history.
Win or lose both sides will despise me.
In battle, I will fight valiantly,
but in the end, I will die alone.
My weapons rust as time continues on.
Of my fallen friends, I'll sing a song.
In this endless battle, I will stay strong,
knowing I have no chance of winning.
Flattery has long since then been replaced.
To lie is no longer a disgrace.
Is there any honor in such a place
where the thieves and the murders thrive?
Becoming the best is that which I sought
But time in jail was all my efforts bought.
Escaping once held captive my thoughts,
But still in jail is where I do rot.
My lockpick is gone, my crossbow is too.
But one day again, I will debut.
Though I'm old, frail, and a bit out of tune,
The life of my work will never undo.
The young lads do earnestly aspire.
The old do after time retire.
Crime will decrease, or at times run higher.
No matter what, you can't douse our fire.
The law hates. Thieves destroy competition.
Old methods are gone despite petition.
Will they put an end to our life's mission?
Not as long as good and evil endure.
Matthew Harlovic Jan 2018
when they replaced my half-torn slip-ons with velcro, i laced up.
orange jumpsuits pushed lunch trays and sized from the waist up.

© Matthew Harlovic
Brent Kincaid Oct 2017
Olly, olly, oxen fail.
Top Republicans go to jail.
Olly, olly, oxen chump
All those crooks elected Trump

Oh, GOP, why’d you do it?
And make all of us suffer through it?
It makes it worse to see it all
And know you were all crooks and knew it.
Why couldn’t you just take
Your bribes and shut the hell up?
Why did you have to
Demand to overfill your larcenous cup?

Olly, olly, you and your gang
Some of you really do deserve to hang.
At least you’ll get to know at last
Your reign of terror has finally passed.

Disgusting Olly and the rest
Most of us know who your boss is
But half this sick regime
Has yet to realize what the cost is.
For the world to see the toll
Levied on our nation by the GOP beast
And count the casualties,
It’s going to be decades, at least.

Olly, olly, oxen, fad.
This whole affair has been so bad
It’ll be a great day
When this awful president
And his cronies get locked away.

Olly, olly, oxen fail.
Top Republicans go to jail.
Olly, olly, oxen chump
All those crooks elected Trump
Britney Lyn Sep 2017
Our minds are a prison but the difference between yours and mine is I built my bars. Others built yours.
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