by redclay | Sep 23, 2021 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Non-fiction, non-fiction
By Peter Le
Third place winner, nonfiction, Heard/Alexandria Detention Center writing contest, August 2021
Hey Babe. So I have been thinking recently. What is love? After r-evaluating everything, I am more than certain I do want to be with you no matter what. I have always loved you and that will never stop. You are my first love and best friend. Things like that wouldn’t change overnight. So I will embrace my love for you and work through our problems and differences.
When I first got locked up, I didn’t want to hold you back. I wanted you to be free and happy, but you wanted to hold me down. That’s what love is, so I respected your decision to bear my pain wit me and loved you even more for it. We first thought that I would be home in a few years, but that all changed when you go locked up 2 months after me. It hurts me more than you will ever know. I wanted you snitch on me so they would let you go, but you refused. You don’t deserve any of this. You are innocent, but the Feds thought otherwise. The think you know everything because you are my wife. So they pressured you many times and made you cry. That made me cry too. You told me not to cry and be strong. I hated myself for hurting you. Sometimes I still do. My mistakes haunt me. It is my fault that the Feds involved you. As our case developed, our relationship struggled. We started to question ourselves and our future. How strong was our commitment to each other? We still wanted to be together, however, and held on.
We wrote letters and passed each other notes whenever we could, but maybe that wasn’t enough. Our lives were already drifting apart and I didn’t want to accept it. I couldn’t have. I’ve lost everything already, but you and my family. I could not afford to lose anything else. Eventually, I was indicted with more charges and you were sentenced to 3 ½ years. Our faith in each other started to break. Hope was bleak and only our past was concrete. You resented me and I accepted that. It is my fault for your incarceration. I failed to protect you when you trusted me. You were mad and did what you wanted. You stopped writing me and wrote other guys instead. You flirted and entertained them. Maybe you did it out of spite or maybe you enjoyed to. I was hurt and felt betrayed, but at the end of the day it was justifiable. I couldn’t resent you for that. I am the reason you are alone and suffering. Maybe you thought I didn’t love you anymore or maybe it was too much to love me. It didn’t seem likely anymore that I was coming home after a few years. You never ended things between us. You only said that you would write me when you can because it was getting complicated to send letters. Even if you were cheating on me, I couldn’t stop loving you. If it made you feel better, shouldn’t I find consolation in that? It was difficult and I was confused. After a few days of heartbreak, I forgave you and found my peace. Even though you never told me about the other guys, I don’t hold that against you. In our hearts, I know that we still love each other.
I am writing this because it is inevitable. I am sending it to you now because the sooner I address it, the better. I’ve waited and waited, but you never wrote me. But I knew I had to be the one to write you first. When you responded back and said you were doing well in prison, I was just happy and overwhelmed to get a letter from you. It’s been over a year since we’ve wrote each other, but not a day has gone by that you weren’t on my mind.
I was reading this book and it reminded me of what love was. It was a sign and I had to let you know how I feel. I love you and married you. You are the person I chose. Through thick and thin and for better or for worse. I signed up for this and will support you whether you are wrong or right. If I can’t handle you at your worst, then I don’t deserve you at your best. Because I love you, I respect your wishes. Whether you want to or not, I will always love you and wish you the best. That is just what love is. So yes, I really do love you.
Sincerely,
Your best friend
by redclay | Sep 13, 2021 | Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Poetry
by Betsy Stewart
Poetry, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility/OAR writing contest, August 2021
I spent each day just searching for my purpose here in life
and still i could not find a reason to survive.
I struggled through my childhood without a loyal friend,
And every broken heart just [n]ever seemed to mend.
My parents didn’t have time to tell me they cared,
They never came to comfort me those nights when i was scared.
They told me to toughen up an’ don’t cry,
All i want to do is break down an’ just ask them why.
Soon my life fell apart,
All i wanted was there heart.
they couldn’t understand.
I turned to anything that could numb and bury all of my pain.
When my glass felt empty,
I’d fill it up again.
Over the years I drifted through many different towns.
Longing to find something to turn my life around.
I spent many nights alone, cold, hungry, and ashamed.
Desperate to find a warm place to stay.
As I lay on the concrete steps of a church to get some rest,
I felt the presence of someone gently kicking at my feet.
As i open my eyes a stranger stood and smiled.
I brought you something to drink
You’ve been sleeping for quite awhile.
He reached a sturdy hand to me an’ helped me to my feet.
I thanked him for his kindness an’ my heart began to weep.
This stranger gave me so much more than a drink to quench my thirst.
He taught me compassion and the value of self-worth.
From that day on, I grew to love those concrete steps much more.
For one day as I reached the top, I opened the door.
I held on to my tattered coat in hand and searched to find a pew.
I heard the voice of someone saying there is a seat right here for you.
For on that day my life began
an’ soon would understand
that even though i’ve made mistakes I was still worthy,
An’ this will always be my story.
This church Became my loyal friend,
the home I never knew!
I will always now have HOPE!
by redclay | Jan 1, 2021 | Visual Arts
Happy new year everyone! Heard held its last class of 2020 at Friends of Guest House yesterday. Sharmila asked the women to create two puppets – one of the person who has had the most positive influence on you, and one of yourself. If you shared what you created, you were asked to share three interesting facts about you through your puppet.
Meet Crystal. She loves to work with hair, to sew, and to read. The puppet on the right is her mom. She always encouraged Crystal to think about people who had it worse than her and then she would always feel how blessed she truly was.
The puppet in Meet Tonya. Don’t you love her pink hair? To the right of Tonya’s puppet of herself is an unnamed family member who always stood by her and never gave up on her. This family member may have been a bit disappointed with her when she got in trouble but never stopped loving her.
This last puppet is of Sharmila’s brother who she credits as her role model and hero, and who introduced her to reading, music and strong values. Sharmila said that he has been extremely supportive of her in every step of her life, and she would not be the same [amazing] person if she did not have him in her life.
As you start 2021, who is your puppet avatar?
by redclay | Oct 1, 2020 | Detention Center Writing Contests, Poetry
Psychosomatic
by Keith Parker II
Heard/Arlington County Detention Center/OAR writing contest, August 2020
In a place were everything moving at the speed of sound and light, a place were it’s even crazier at night, a place were im stuck between wrong and right at a fork in the road were there telling me go left but I wanna go right.
A place were it’s never silince were it’s hard to find balance. A place were they need more science. A place were thoughts of voilence and were suicidal thoughts are making more progress. A place were yar fighting demons and yar own (self).
Yet I still dont know who’s won a place were im not at bat and it’s not safe to bet. A place were the devil congregate. A place were a docter cant operate a place were i been stuck since a teenager from my parents mistakes and all life has put on my plate. It’s not too late, still can be saved but no one knows who I am let alone brave enough to brake into this place.
This is my cry for help from a psychotic brake down! If you havn’t figured who I am by now I’ll call my self the brain from distorted eyes i’v seen me raped mentally by society from drugs I let him put inside of me. People I let get the best of me and things I wont let go from inside from me! But no one knows this side of me physicaly im healthy mentally unhealthy unstable maybe I shared to much.
Im finally able to say im scared fer once but nobody’s here to help us. What happens when being tough dosn’t work anymore. Will they call us weak all because I was afraid to speak im fighting a disorder by poker and multple personaltys and it’s killing me softly as you read (signed the Brain)
My name is Keith Alan Parker II. I wrote this non fiction poem on May 18 2020. The month of mentell health awerness! We all suffer from some type of mentell unhealthyness but some manage it different. I say this to say we should all pay close attention to people crys for help family friends and even inmates thank you for listning to my poem!
by redclay | Sep 29, 2020 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Fiction, fiction
Dreamer
by Derrick Barnes
First place winner – fiction, Heard/Arlington County Detention Center/OAR writing contest, August 2020
As Thomas approached the intersection he avoided the turning car by mere seconds. This was not the first time that this has happened. Thomas Adrian was known to be different. Even as a child he was a loner. Although he was born with striking good looks and an abundance of charisma he was standoffish. It was always like he couldn’t quite fit in.
At three years old he had a terrible fit of colic, that was so bad that it required both parents to miss work. The irony of the episode was that his dad, Thomas Sr., was a managing director of a shipping company who was experiencing downsizing. On that day a disgruntle employee came into the company’s wharehouse and shot eight people. For some it wouldve been considered a coincidence but for some reason the hairs on big Thomas’s neck stood up.
Thomas Sr vowed to watch his son very closely from that point forward. At age five Thomas Jr saved his sister from falling down a flight of stairs. Six months later Thomas Jr created a scene that alerted police to stopping an attempted robbery of the neighborhood gas station.
At age twelve Thomas Jr action prevented a fire at his Jr High School. His teacher was preoccupied and forgot a bunsen burner was on near a flamable gas. Tommy turned off the gas a moved the substance.
As he got more in tuned with his ability Tommy realized that he was gifted with the ability of foreshadowing.
Unlike most peoples belief he saw glimpses of the future in certain situations but these brief flashes were enough to help him become more aware of his surroundings and the people in his space. This created a super sense of awareness.
For many years Tommy thought that he lost his ability but on his eighteenth birthday he got a flash of many things all at once. The first vision showed him his mother crying and kneeling on the ground. In his mind Tommy saw this like a movie being fast forward. The scene cut to a water view and tall palm trees. A quick cut again it was a scene of him speaking in front an assembly of some sort.
Tommy was baffled by the things he was seeing. As the night progressed Tommy’s friend wanted to show him a good time. They arranged a party at a mutual friends house. It was there that one of his friends had tried to give Tommy cocaine. But paying attention to his earlier flashes it all made sense to him now. He was seeing alternatives of his actions or consequences. The first was his mom reacting to the news of his death. The second was the view from his honeymoon suite. The last was him accepting the Nobel prize.
In reality we have choices daily that define our lives but could just redefine that moment choose wisely and your dreams may become your reality.
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