Reiter's Block

Poems by Conway: "Walls" and "Things That Hang"

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This entry was posted on 4/24/2008 2:24 PM and is filed under Great Poems Online, Politics and Culture, Prison Letters.


New poems below from "Conway", my pen pal serving 25-to-life for receiving stolen goods under California's three-strikes law. I'm exploring self-publication options for his chapbook, but would also appreciate being contacted by any interested publishers. 

Walls

As I stand in contrast
questioning authority, to which it stands

Is this wall of concrete asking itself
why I stick around, never leave?
Seeming to grieve this stoic stance
held so long, by a pillar built society.
Do the walls rejoice, in my familiar visage
whenever I caress that sharp roughness
with this softer flesh
polishing the stone.

Or, is it just hope
that makes me imagine the wall alive
with sight, even sturdy voice?

Then, I wonder
is it this stone
that exiles me in
or the world out...

****

Things That Hang

A sound in the air
until caught by an ear
wanted people
on the post office wall
offering money to call
A kite by the wind
with a string
on the other end
that question
of doubt
you know
what I'm talkin' about
A hope
and a prayer
pants, on a leg
the shirt
off his back
A corpse
without any slack...

 
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