Theme For Intermediate Chinese (audio only)
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in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
In general population, census
is consensus—ain't nowhere to run
to in these walls, walls like a mind—
We visitors stand in a yellow circle
so the tower can frisk us with light,
finger the barrels on thirsty rifles.
I got rambling, rambling on my mind
for Renee Nicole Good
1988–2026
The fall is the crashing, a sudden brightness,
call it a snapping twig on a broken tree,
call it the never fulfilled promises of freedom
of returning what was stolen.
for Breonna Taylor
Dear Breonna,
How many times, I ask,
how many times
have I chased the thought
of writing to you,
of catching the poem where