A POET IN PRISON
Continued from page 27
So Zach writes it out. He’s been writing for two
years. Writing poetry helps him stay the course.
And the universe may well be saying “Yes!” His
work, “Angelic Smile” won an honorable men-
tion in a recent poetry contest and was pub-
lished in Creative Connections. It’s now a hard-
bound book.
There are a lot of kids out there with a desire
to publish juvenile poetry. Zach’s writing may
be more than that. But he’s modest about the
recognition, though clearly proud.
“It was good. It was awesome,” Zach says, show-
ing more emotion than usual.
Almost every day Zach sits down and writes.
He’s prolific, he says, writing his poetry on
school-style lined paper, often with crumpled
corners. The poetry sooths him, even though its
themes are dark — often macabre. Most adults
don’t like his work, he says as he begins reading
“The Rainbow’s Children” aloud, sans any emo-
tion or inflexion in his voice.
In your disgusting society of hate, We were
outcasts, We were the unwanted, The abused,
The hated. No more are we those things. We
are the children of the rainbow. We stand tall.
No more hiding who we are. No more hiding
who we love. We are stronger for the abuse your
society puts on us. We are wiser than our so-
called parents. We are more open-minded than
our “peers”. We are no longer going to sit in
fear of your abusiveness. We are going to turn
our backs to “society” and tell them: “We are
done with you and your hatefulness.” We will
not be abused. We will not become our abusers.
We will live in peace. Now is our Time to break
free. To build our own society, separate from
the hateful societies of the earth.
The writing reflects Zach’s life, if not just his in-
ner and mostly unknown life. He’s depressed.
No doubt about it. Zach says so. He is bored
in prison. He is sleeping too much. The staff
doesn’t like it. He can’t control his anger. He
says so. He’s sad.
A BETTER LIFE
Coming out at 14 resulted with more drama
in his life. He lost friends and some family
couldn’t deal, he says.
“It’s no fun to be an outcast,” Zach says.
Continues on page 31
November 2012
JustOut.com
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