Pages: 104
ISBN: 9780813180410
Pub Date: 08 Sep 2020
Imprint: University Press of Kentucky
Series: University Press of Kentucky New Poetry & Prose Series
Illustrations: 1 b&w photo
Pages: 104
ISBN: 9780813179889
Pub Date: 08 Sep 2020
Imprint: University Press of Kentucky
Series: University Press of Kentucky New Poetry & Prose Series
Illustrations: 1 b&w photo
Description:
"Forgive state poet #289-128 / for not scribbling illusions / of trickery as if timeless hell / could be captured by stanzas / alliteration or slant rhyme," remarks the speaker, Maryland Department of Corrections prisoner {#289-128}, early in this haunting collection. Three sections -- {#289-128} Property of the State, {#289-128} Poet-in-Residence (Cell 23), and {#289-128} Poet in New York -- frame the countless ways in which the narrator's body and life are socially and legally rendered by the state even as the act of poetry helps him reclaim an identity during imprisonment.These poems address the prison industrial complex, the carceral state, the criminal justice system, racism, violence, love, resilience, hope, and despair while exploring the idea of freedom in a cell.