Poetry from Horace Thomas, an inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison. Artwork by a student at Pine Hills Correctional Center.
“The mind takes over/ running like a reel/ pushing you forward/ so your fate won’t be sealed…”
More poetry from Horace Thomas at Salinas Valley State Prison.
Poetry submitted to Free Verse from Salinas Valley State Prison. “Criminals on this machine/ tighten its nuts and bolts/ anytime they come to prison/ to serve out a jolt…”
My belief system about masculinity was to show no fear, fight, fight, fight, and men don’t cry. I lived this from adolescence into my early adult years and while incarcerated. This helped me to survive, so I thought. No matter how reckless or angry I was, there was something inside of me that felt incomplete. The feelings of guilt and shame led me to search for a transformation within myself.
Written by Parker Boeing.
Free Verse has been collaborating with a class at the University of Montana along with the Humanities Action Lab since August. Together, the goal is to create a project by the end of the semester that will raise awareness about Mass Incarceration.
“That’s something really special about that space, and that’s something that’s made me love it so much, just how open and raw and ready the students there are.”