I will never call a Latino “papi”
sino héroe, soldado, sobreviviente
Brother in bondage, sibling in survival
The chains of the Hispanic clink with those of his Black cellmate
We languish under the same white gall
Asian men rattle wire fences in

One Word
Can make the difference.
Guilty? or Not?

It doesn’t matter what I think.
It only matters what the jury believes.
I am nothing but a name in a story.

And that terrifies me.
I have no control.
Will the rest of my life be like this?

Mother is marrying Big Joe.
Why she decided to, I do not know.
Doesn’t she know,
She is betraying Father?
Doesn’t she know I don’t want to be a daughter,
To anyone but Father?

I am a strong young man exhausted from my ways
I’ve been in eleven facilities but nothing ever seemed to change
Until one day I felt his grace and heard it say
Come to me my child and I will take it all away…