by redclay | Oct 21, 2023 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Fiction, fiction
Darren Hanible
Third place, Fiction, Arlington County Detention Facility/Heard/OAR writing contest, October 2023
(handwritten story follows typed story)
Of course the alchemist didn’t teach me alchemy. I’m no sheep. Exactly when did those 48 laws go through the House and Senate? Which president dropped the ball on that veto?
I fear often of breaking powerful laws, for surely it must follow powerful law enforcement. The enforcers read Sun Tzu. There’s a new tank in my township so I guess it’s safe to say they prefer war. 3 years consecutive in Iraq. Hours clocked, plentiful job experience. I have this unprofessional doubt he’s more than fit for the job. Serve the country, serve the community.
Look at the art, I prefer art. I think of Banksy’s bow tie helicopter from my past. Full circle. On second thought, was it a bow tie or a bow, like the one on the tank. What a present. Of course I didn’t learn alchemy.
I’ve never left this country. When I’m an old man will there still be one for me? The powerful enforcers of powerful laws read Sun Tzu. As did I….once.
I prefer art. I see the art in most things. Life reflects art, reflects life, reflects art reflects. Mirrors reflect, light refracts.
I didn’t start with that man. In the beginning there was. Light refracts, mirrors reflect, life reflects art reflects life reflects.
Did you see that mural? Those murals? I haven’t seen them all but, art reflects, life reflects, mirrors reflect, lakes reflect. The willow on this on the bank is weeping because the lakes water is mostly tears. Art reflects…life reflects…lakes reflect…eyes reflect.
There’s a depth to reflection, and still, all reflection requires a surface. His career experience kept him in our community. His colleagues marched right past that mural. They read Sun Tzu. They prefer war.
Art reflects, life reflects, art reflects, life reflects, mirrors reflect, light refracts.
I didn’t start with that man. The light was at the beginning. I’ll gladly let you borrow my book, but you won’t learn alchemy. Powerful enforcement for powerful laws. May I suggest Sun Tzu?
I prefer art.
Pardon me officer, which agency exactly enforces the universal law? Universal law enforcement. Powerful enforcement for powerful laws.
One more question officer, which way is the mural? I took a weekend off to see some art in this city. I haven’t seen all the murals.
Art reflects life reflects art reflects life reflects. Light.
There was light in the beginning. Light refracts mirrors reflect, art reflects, life reflects, lakes reflect, eyes reflect.
Can a surface be deep? I prefer art. I need rest. I sat under the willow on the bank of the lake. It still weeps. I’ve heard the lakes water is mostly tears. I left my phone. It’s better we not be sheep, at least sometimes,
I only have one book. I sit under the shade of the tree. I never left this country. When I’m an old man will there be a country left for me? Will I be an old man?
I prefer art. I opened the book & read. Of course I’m not going to learn alchemy, but I remember there being light at the beginning. Light refracts. I love art. My eyes take in the surface of the pages.
Art reflects. As does life, mirrors, eyes… and lakes. Maybe surfaces can be deep. Light refracts. I remember it at the beginning. Light can be hot. It’s getting hot. I walked to the edge of the bank. The willow weeps. The sun has moved so the shade is no longer cast the same.
The light is hot. Such a beautiful reflection on the lakes surface. The willow, the skies, a bird, a dragonfly.
I prefer art. I almost didn’t notice my own reflection. Life reflects. Surfaces can have depth. Light refracts. The light is hot. Maybe I’ll go for a swim.
by redclay | Oct 7, 2023 | Detention Center Writing Contests, Poetry
By Jade Ingalls
Poetry, Arlington County Detention Facility/Heard/OAR writing contest, October 2023
As I fixed my gaze beyond the tall, narrow barred window, my eyes became lost within an endless depth of the blackest night …. The sole glimmer of life radiated in the form of a luminous beam, as the distant trace of moon reached through the shadows of the deep, gracefully piercing the darkness …. The beam crawled slowly toward me, gradually swallowing the surrounding night within its soft, gentle glow, breaking into shivers of light, dancing before the windows of my soul ….
Consciousness became ambiguous, my prison drifted away, the night was but a memory, as it faded into day …. As I climbed beyond the clouds, my eyes beheld but clues, of a world I’d never seen before, but somehow I still knew. The majestic scenery swirled beneath me, like a living picture frame, in colors so familiar, yet none that I could name.
Then without a warning, the picture frame recedes, like a flower quickly fading, like a vapor in the wind. At that moment, the flowing beam of silvery moonlight, upon the night again descends, as my travels beyond the window sadly come to end …
by redclay | Oct 7, 2023 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Non-fiction, non-fiction
By Kendale Beckham
Nonfiction, Arlington County Detention Facility/Heard/OAR writing contest, October 2023 (visuals by author following typed story)
- Any time in life we make decisions that are not aligned with our purpose, these decisions have no staying power and soon are forgotten. Decisions that are aligned with your purpose embodied in your definite chief aim statement are remembered because they are truly significant to you. -Ray Stendall
- In considering linear time, it appears to exist in three parts: past time, current time, and future time. Past time might be defined as moving back mentally in time to consider what choices we made that contribute to where we find ourselves today. Future time might be defined as moving forward mentally in time to consider what choices we make today that can determine our future outcomes.
- Current time might be defined as the moment-by-moment time we exist in now and is the only real time we have. This present time best serves us when it is combined with insight, that quality that causes us to go inside ourselves for the purpose of considering what lessons are relevant for us to use in this our present moment.
- We can watch a clock, turn the page on a calendar, journal our daily experience, and chart the progress of time in numerous physical ways. Spiritually, our comprehension of time is different. It is more circular.
- All this is interesting to consider, but in our waking world time marches on and we need to be in step with the marching band if we want to be in the parade! This is why Dr. Hill reminds us to use our time efficiently and wisely.
- Time is the essence of our being and, when we are out of time, we cease to exist in this realm. So, if life is a checkerboard, the opponent against us is time. Play the game to your best advantage by recognizing that time waits for no man or woman.
- Given this fact, you can then gain the insight that the best use of the time we are given is critical in our lifetime accomplishments. Be wise and use time to your very best advantage.
- Knowing that my habits of thought become the patterns which attract all the circumstances affecting my life through the lapse of time, I shall keep my mind so busy in connection with the circumstances I desire that no time will be left to devote to fears and frustrations and the things I do not desire.
- In the future I shall regard the loss, through neglect, of any portion of my time as a sin, for which I must atone by the better use in the future of an equivalent amount of it.
- Dedicated to all the readers of and The Act Program.
The author’s complete illustrations can be found here: NF – Take your Time – Beckham
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