Speaking with a prisoner the other day, the conversation got around to staying in touch with family. “I don’t know what has happened,” he said. “My mother thinks I don’t care about family, yet that is all I ever think about. How can she say such a thing? What did I do?” Prisoners are most likely to be tormented by what happens beyond the fence, rather than by what happens within.
He isn’t the only prisoner experiencing such a separation; nor do separations occur only among families of the incarcerated.
—∞—
Somewhere A gate has been closed Latched from within Sudden, unannounced Closed Silence Disturbing, depressing An inexplicable absence Made all the more painful In its ever-presence Looming Over the silent phone Echoing In the empty mailbox Residing in every waking moment© 2013 Thomas W. Cummins
Tags: justice, poetry, prison ministry, Social Justice
In a dim light... 
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