Outside The Wire by BJ Neblett

I taught Creative Writing, Poetry and ESL for a while to inmates in several federal prisons. While I like to believe my efforts touched and helped my students, I was the recipient of a very eye opening education. I came away from the experience with several new poems, material for more short stories, and a decidedly different outlook. Here is one of several poems I wrote from an insider's view point. If it frightens you... good! Be sure to like, link and comment.
Peace and love,
BJ

Outside The Wire

BJ Neblett

© 2007, 2014

Outside the wire

Sun shines warmer

Wind blows cooler

Air smells fresher

Life tastes sweeter

Outside the wire

Rivers sing

Flowers dance

Children wish

Mothers pray

Beyond the wire

A blood red sun

crosshatched with chain link

and razor wire

surrenders to an indifferent world

while a bloodied fourteen year old

pot marked with scars and tracks

and tags and tears

surrenders to the blue crush

of cold steel and sequestered dreams.

Beyond the wire

idealism is the commodity

compassion the cost

Folsom

Huntsville

Attica

Eastern State

Dachau

Inside the wire

Smiles are painted

Eyes are tainted

Minds are gelid

Hearts are hardened

Inside the wire

the velvet carpet of night

swallows Sodom’s towers

retching out filth

and waste

mean streets and mean thoughts

a ribbon of highway

a smugglers agenda

life exists between

the ticks of the clock

the beats of the heart

in the darkness of souls

in the shadows of reality

Beyond the wire

amidst the myopic madden masses

the blind man leads

Jail

Prison

Lock up

Slammer

Death camp

Outside the wire

Birds sing

Grass grows

Bees sting

Snowflakes kiss