Abstract:

This presentation will focus on my experiences reading and writing poetry in United States prisons and juvenile detention centers and the process of bringing the writings of incarcerated people to the general public. Reading and writing poetry are at the center of many of my prison and community workshops. Poetry encourages us to enter another person's experience and encourages us to, as poet Billy Collins states, "enter the consciousness of another. . . . [and] loosen some of our fixed notions in order to accommodate another point of view." The act of entering another's consciousness encourages less "othering" and more understanding and empathy. This understanding and empathy are at the heart of restorative practices and work towards creating safe spaces for the voices and experiences of others, especially others whose actions and beliefs may seem foreign and opaque.

I have witnessed the silencing and marginalizing of incarcerated people and their families first-hand during my ten years of volunteering as a writing teacher in prisons and juvenile detention centers in several US cities, and I have witnessed the pain and silencing of victims and their families through my restorative justice work. Reading and writing poetry with people involved in the criminal justice system has given me a space from which to explore the experiences of all and focus on the commonalities of human experience, rather than the differences. After teaching one writing class at a maximum security prison outside of Philadelphia, PA, for three years, I published a book of writings with my incarcerated students entitled LETTERS TO MY YOUNGER SELF: AN ANTHOLOGY OF WRITINGS BY INCARCERATED MEN AT SCI GRATERFORD AND A WRITING WORKBOOK. I travel with the book to give free lectures to the public and to provide free copies of the book to young people at juvenile detention centers and high schools. All proceeds from the sale of the book go towards providing free copies of the book to young people.

Keywords:

US prisons, teaching poetry, empathy, restorative justice.