Strength

She is Broken
Like jewels shattered into pieces
Not as sweet as Reese's Pieces
More bitter than chocolate that's 100% pure
Potent is a great descriptor
As I shower in her wisdom
Untold stories
That are nightmares turned to life
A sharp pain in the night
As you step on broken pieces
Trying to pick up all the pieces
To put pieces back again
But it forms a different picture
Not the same
And not too different
Like a mistranslated scripture
That's its own type of sin
Cracks can be refilled
But the fractures can't be mended
But we can always be rebuilt
So if she falls I'll build again
But I'd rather not rebuild
So I'll try not to drop the ball
And to minimize her falls
With a stable resting place
Yet I am haunted by my conscience
And the simple fact that I
Cannot be there to catch her
When she falls every time.

Perspective on the Poem:
I wrote this poem during one of my hardest weeks at the prison. One of my favorite ladies there attempted suicide. It taught me a very valuable lesson than anyone who works in ministry should learn, people are not objects and you can't fix them. This incident really broke my heart. I held in my emotions as best I could all day and when I got home that night, I broke down and cried like a baby. Only after a heart to heart with my coworker did I come to truly realize that the amount of love and effort you put into a person is not the only determining factor in their lives and sometimes, sadly, you are not enough.

Hush! He's calling

Hush! Hush!
Somebody's calling my name . . .
Not a hymn she's  singing
But an urge she's feeling
Forever whispering to her soul
Brain chemistry altered
Shaking sins with her son
Deadlier than the Seven
Slippery like the Serpent
Reaching out from the Dark
Grasping on to her, tightening its grip
Recovery is like walking up a mountain
On eggshells
With a monkey on her back
Slippery Slope on a conveyor belt
Possibly impossible . . . BUT
FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU SAITH THE LORD
HIS PLAN can crush those mountains
HIS PLAN can loosen that grip
HIS PLAN can overcome chemistry
HE CAN smash the Serpent's head
Hush! Hush! Somebody's calling your name.

Perspective on the Poem:
I wrote this after talking to a prisoner about her crack addiction. The prison gave her no type of program, residency,or rehab. They are just going to let her back on the street, with no new knowledge of how to battle her addiction and not land herself back in Prison. We are setting people up for failure and it is heart breaking.

The System

Justice has compassion

But not our Justice System

Prison for Profit

Turns citizens to victims

Hand of one, Hand of all

Unconscious criminal acts

Some did it

Some didn't

Some were caught in a trap

Like pigs in a pen

They eat slop on a plate

No love, No kindness

The only power's in Hate

America the Beautiful

Broken stones beneath it

Crumbling standard of Justice

Or is it really Just Us?

Perspective on the Poem:

This poem explore the vagueness and gray areas of our  laws and the barely humane conditions of our prisons.

Flip The Switch

Flip the switch
Snuff a life
Succumb to darkness
Put out the light
What is a life worth?
In this shattered system
Not much,
If within these walls
We bring death inward
Eye for an Eye
Leaves us blind in love
Young in Faith
No teeth to chew scripture
No minds to see straight
If God loves us all
Can we take that from another?
Life is more than their crimes
We've all made unpleasant choices
So what's the going rate
For a mistake or two or three?
Loss of life is worth LIFE
Do you see the irony?
Life is worth life
Death can equal death
Redemption equals nothing
That part is for yourself
But in the bare truth of life
In her certain circumstances
Her life is almost up
She is at her last standing
Flip the switch
Snuff a life
What is a life worth?
Well in OUR Justice System
They don't ransom it for much.


Perspective on the Poem:
I wrote this after hearing from my supervisor about a women on Death Row, who has exhausted all her legal procedures and now awaits death. It jarred me, because after working in the Prison system, you start to see the cracks. It begs the question: Do we ever really know certainly enough of someones innocence or guilt, that we can justifiably take their life away? And if we execute people, are we short changing GOD of His opportunity to save them?