security lights
aquarium blue
breathing underwater
in the summer rain
fences
disappear
captive morning
sunrise behind chainlink
diamonds of light
it hurts to look at
I don’t know what to do with
animal pain
multipurpose rooms
furniture that folds
not everything is special
someone else’s war
far off lightning
unheard unfelt
a surfaced fish
ripples the moon
—memories
blue shampoo bottle
“Classic Clean”
I would like to be
frog
pond
( ( ( o ) ) )
I didn’t know
the last time I swam
was the last time
a single cloud
caught in the chickenwire
over the plantation
a single cloud
caught in the chickenwire
birds flying south
a single cloud
caught in the chickenwire
slowly escaping
More from our decarceral brainstorm
Inquest—finalist for the 2025 National Magazine Award for General Excellence & cited in The Best American Essays 2025—brings you insights from the people working to create a world without mass incarceration.
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Image: Lidia Nikole / Unsplash