The Last Bus

by | Sep 13, 2021 | Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Poetry

by Rodney Johnson

Poetry, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility/OAR writing contest, August 2021

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

One more block till I get to this seat.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I’m still thinkin what will I eat

As I walk down this street

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I finally made it to this bench to have a seat

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I sure hope this last bus has some heat.

I wish things were different in my life

So many thoughts.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I have so many bags around my feet to keep in the heat.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I wonder how much time is left,

I really need some food to eat.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I think I better ask this person walking by

can they help me get a bite to eat.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I want to take my bag off my back

I have to unhook this strap

I’m just to cold and weak.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

This must be for me

Let me get up for he roll pass me

I hold out my hand so he won’t miss me

As I want for my face to intake this heat.

Lord I can’t feel my feet!

I made the last bus so cold hungry and weak,

I wonder where this will land me as I sit on this last seat

I sit at the back of this bus thinking about the last stop saying,

Lord I can’t feel my feet.

Generation, Incarceration – Anticipation

by | Sep 13, 2021 | Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Poetry

by Horace Williams 

Poetry, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility/OAR writing contest, August 2021

My first time of incarceration started in 1979

Back then it was such a different time

And considering where I am today

Should have been enough to make stay away

Please be advised that my age is 69

While a good conversation is so hard to find

Feel like I’m lost in a capsule of time

Young men pants below there waist trying to

Feel their shrine

7A was my first unit in proven ground

Cocaine & heroin still in my system please let

me go lay down

My C.R.U. She’Ro appeared and set me down

Man – this may direct me to my cap & gown

Work shops & group programs gave me a edge

Dome how some days I miss my Bed

Generation, Incarceration Anticipation

Whether its Jews, Spanish, African – Ethiopian

Young men chewing that fat – and I hear is

Nigga Dis & Nigga Dat

Now these young men seem to have created a bond

This is what the Rap Music Industry spit out

and called a song

I share in the groups hoping these young men will

feel my shame

Hopefully when group is over they will feel my

pain

After 39 months here I’m finally walking down

this number

Shall I say say thank you God fore there were

days I wonder

Yall know I’m old enough to become a A.A.R.P

member

Hopefully I’m release in the month of December