Men Still in Exile

Description

This anthology brings together the creative work of men from four Oregon prisons: Mill Creek Correctional Facility, Salem; Deer Ridge Correctional Facility, Madras; Columbia River Correctional Facility, Portland; and Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem. The men's poems, essays, and artwork—collected by their devoted writing teacher, Michele Dishong McCormack—reach beyond the prison walls and bear witness to our common struggle. On the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Penned Thoughts Writers Group, which meets most Wednesdays at the Oregon State Penitentiary, this book celebrates the sanctuary these men have found in words and art. As one writer explains, "We want the world to know that there is a community of men inside these walls who are more than just prisoners." Exploring themes of gratitude and faith, hope and dreams, life, love, family, and regret, the power and urgency of these voices welcome readers into this exiled community of writers and artists.

Sujets

• justice
• Men's Studies
• Personal Memoirs
• Social Science
• Essays
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Penology

Informations

• Publié par: Chemeketa Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781943536832
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Men Still in Exile
Edited by Michele Dishong McCormack
Men Still in Exile
ISBN: 978-1-943536-40-5
2018 by Chemeketa Community College. All rights reserved.
Publisher: Tim Rogers
Managing Editor: Steve Richardson
Production Editor: Brian Mosher
Instructional Editor: Stephanie Lenox
Design Editor: Ronald Cox IV
Cover Art: Tanager , by Francisco Hernandez
Printed in the United States of America.
This book is dedicated to Nancy Green.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothing and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you looked after me. - Jesus of Nazareth
Your treasure can never be taken. Thank you for everything.
Contents
Editor s Note
Introduction
Gratitude and Faith
Distorted Innocence - Charles C. Hammond II
A Life Awash in Birds - Michele Dishong McCormack
Great Blue - Francisco Hernandez
Commencement Speech - Phillip
Depression - HJ Walker
Grateful and Blessed - Brandon Davila
Gratitude - Francisco Hernandez
Tanager - Francisco Hernandez
Over the Years - Phillip
Thankful - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Through the Bars - Francisco Hernandez
Cardinal at Rest - Francisco Hernandez
We Don t Believe in That - SP
Who Am I - Benjamin James Hall
Hopes and Dreams
Future Encounter - Charles C. Hammond II
The Doorway to Nowhere - Charles C. Hammond II
Criminals and Teddy Bears - HJ Walker
Discovery of Self - HJ Walker
Dream - Brandon Davila
Dream Big!!! - Brandon Davila
Emotional Garbage - SP
Hope s Highway - Benjamin James Hall
Mercy - Francisco Hernandez
My Window - Francisco Hernandez
Winter Swan - Francisco Hernandez
Patience - Phillip
Exit Interview - Phillip
The Moon Through the Bars - Benjamin James Hall
The New Unwanted - Francisco Hernandez
Today - Brandon Davila
Inside
Fear, Chains, and Ankle Irons - James M. Anderson
Full Moon - HJ Walker
Human - Francisco Hernandez
Life - Phillip
Lockdown - Benjamin James Hall
National Anthems - Michele Dishong McCormack
9/11/2011 - Benjamin James Hall
Rehabilitation - HJ Walker
Silent Cries - Benjamin James Hall
The Conclusion - SP
Beyond the Wall - Francisco Hernandez
The Creature - Nestor Diaz-Miller
The Phone Rings - Benjamin James Hall
Wasteland - Benjamin James Hall
Love
#19 - Brandon Davila
Brick by Brick - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Fusion - Francisco Hernandez
I Want - Brandon Davila
meditate - kosal so
My Wine - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Unconventional Fairy Tale - Nestor Diaz-Miller
The Room - Nestor Diaz-Miller
the war of beauty - kosal so
This Sky of Ours - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Mom and Family
Chimes in the Wind - Charles C. Hammond II
A Mother s Love - Charles C. Hammond II
The Answer on the Other End of the Phone - Charles C. Hammond II
Better - Charles C. Hammond II
My Most Cherished Moment Is - Charles C. Hammond II
A Father s Love - HJ Walker
A Mother s Heart - Benjamin James Hall
Best Friend - Nestor Diaz-Miller
A Letter to Mom - HJ Walker
Hero - HJ Walker
homage to her feet - kosal so
Knock on Heaven s Door - HJ Walker
Letters - Francisco Hernandez
Looking Over the Wall - Francisco Hernandez
Meeting Jackie - Benjamin James Hall
Momma Knows Best - Brandon Davila
My Forgotten Aunt - SP
Other Mothers Sons - Michele Dishong McCormack
The Gift of Discovery - James M. Anderson
Time Bomb - Brandon Davila
Other Thoughts
Blah Blah s - Charles C. Hammond II
Under the Surface - Charles C. Hammond II
A World I Call My Own - SP
Alone - Jon Killoran
An Induced Mind - SP
Earthquake Drills - Jon Killoran
Existentialism - Jon Killoran
Ink is Thicker - Brandon Davila
Light - Francisco Hernandez
lightness of being - kosal so
Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Keys - HJ Walker
More at 11 - Jon Killoran
My Noninvasive Procedure - SP
playing god - kosal so
rimes of salt - kosal so
running water - kosal so
Say What? - Jon Killoran
Sayings That Shouldn t Make Sense - Jon Killoran
Staring is Always Creepy - Jon Killoran
The Battle - SP
The Big Book of Cynical Philosophy - Jon Killoran
which god? - kosal so
Regrets
Home Town - Charles C. Hammond II
10 p.m. Endless Climb - Benjamin James Hall
California Son - Phillip
Fertility - James M. Anderson
From the Start - James M. Anderson
Listen! - Benjamin James Hall
sandcastles - kosal so
held reservoir - kosal so
Thunder and Rain - James M. Anderson
Time - James M. Anderson
Where Were You Last Night? - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Whisper to a Roar - Nestor Diaz-Miller
Who Would Have Known? - James M. Anderson
Acknowledgments
Author Biographies
Editor s Note
Poets and writers have been civilizing the inhabitants of the planet Earth for centuries. Some voices have been heard and neglected. To the extent that we delay hearing the voices from prison, to precisely that extent do we delay civilization. - Justice Bruce McM. Wright
Through the Chapel Library s tall, drafty wall of windows, I look out over Mill Creek and a nondescript industrial slice of Salem, Oregon. Behind me, shelves of books and nature murals on three walls provide respite inside a 167-year-old fortress. Here I set up my weekly creative writing class. The writers arrive with their yellow authorization slips, and the door is closed. We are now in a cocoon of sorts, an offbeat refuge adorned with books, art, random bits of electronics, misshapen meditation cushions, and thick, dark blankets perched on top of sturdy locked cabinets. Beyond all this stretches the beige-drab, 30-foot wall of the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Above my students heads, stenciled bright red and black letters on white ceiling pipes warn not to make dust because of asbestos. We would rather write than make dust in this space, prime real estate that we are blessed to have, thanks to the chaplains and other supporters over the years. There is a softness here, which contrasts with the clanging gates of metal, acres of echoing concrete, swaths of linoleum, and squawk of loudspeakers on the other side. The context shifts here, cushioned by a feeling of peace, custom window coverings, and blue starburst carpet.
This sacred space provides sanctuary for the essays, poems, and artwork in this book, from voices that aren t widely heard but sometimes emerge from this cocoon. As one of the writers puts it: We want the world to know that there is a community of men inside these walls who are more than just prisoners.
The Penned Thoughts writers group formed in November 2008, shortly after I met two men, James and Josh, during my first-ever prison visit. I was there with other donors for a ceremony celebrating the accomplishments of incarcerated Chemeketa Community College students. James shocked me that day when he said he d lived at the penitentiary for ten years (since he was seventeen) with no hope, other than regular visits with his mom and other loved ones, until he began to take college classes. Josh, who coined our Penned Thoughts group name, just earned his bachelor s degree, a dream he told me about early on. At that time, I didn t think that earning a bachelor s degree inside prison could happen.
I felt the men s urgency to write that first day with the arrival of Josh, James, and seventeen other men. The group s membership has changed over time due to work schedules, prison transfers, release dates, and other factors, but the sense of community remains. Writers use words like magical sanctuary and safe place to describe our group, which meets for two hours nearly every Wednesday morning and for sometimes longer sessions to host guest writers who are always surprised by how engaged and talented the writers are.
The men s work has been shared on national websites and at literary readings. A spring 2013 event involved my reading some of the men s writing during a conference sponsored by the United Nations. Some of the work has also been shared at annual readings for the writers friends and families. The writers have attended workshops with prison activist Sister Helen Prejean and other regionally and nationally known authors, such as Craig Lancaster, Naseem Rakha, Lauren Kessler, Matt Love, and Maggie Powers. The men s work gained international exposure after a spring 2017 reading and workshop with Stacey Astill, who was the Isle of Man s National Bard that year
The book now in your hands joins Ebb Flow: Writings from Penned Thoughts , a previously released collection of essays, poems, and artwork. Men currently housed in four prisons and two who have been released have joined forces on Men Still in Exile , the publication of which coincides with the group s tenth anniversary. I hope that each reader will find something to resonate with him or her, and in reading this collection will realize that the artists and writers featured are someone s father, son, uncle, husband, neighbor. They are athletes and rappers, painters and carvers, hospice volunteers and musicians.
I ve also had a wide variety of jobs, which include waitress, ranch cook, congressional speechwriter, radio reporter, marketing director, and teacher, but the most rewarding work I ve ever undertaken is inside prison walls. The writers group led me to teach for Chemeketa Community College s College Inside program, advocate and testify at the legislature for prison education, serve as a facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project, deliver classes in the internationally recognized Inside-Out model, and teach and work with a University of Oregon team of students, alumni, and professors. These endeavors fall in line with theologian Frederick Buechner s idea that one s calling comes from the place where your deep gladness and the world s deep hunger meet. This certainly feels like a calling to me and one I would ve never predicted. I will always be in debt to Nancy