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About Time is the national newspaper for Australian prisons and detention facilities

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ISSUE NO. 18

January 2026

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Poetry

Beautiful Souls

By

RM

RM writes from a prison in QLD.

Kristel Hayes via Unsplash

Why should you suffer for my pain.

Knowledge in this I should try to gain.

Does it feel I have left you alone?

It may feel I have cut you to the bone,

But please believe me, my love is true,

I know in the past I didn’t know what to do,

Because being a father was new to me,

Over the years I was blind, but now I see,

That my responsibility is to be a dad,

Even me writing this poem, makes me sad,

Thinking of you all from this cell,

You beautiful things, I must have put you all through hell.

So now I have made some new goals,

And that is to save your beautiful souls.

Why should you suffer for my pain.

Knowledge in this I should try to gain.

Does it feel I have left you alone?

It may feel I have cut you to the bone,

But please believe me, my love is true,

I know in the past I didn’t know what to do,

Because being a father was new to me,

Over the years I was blind, but now I see,

That my responsibility is to be a dad,

Even me writing this poem, makes me sad,

Thinking of you all from this cell,

You beautiful things, I must have put you all through hell.

So now I have made some new goals,

And that is to save your beautiful souls.

Little Rhyme

By Justin

Here’s a little rhyme. As I’m chilling doing time, paying the price for my crime.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 24

1 MIN READ

Mother

By Biannca

What did you see when you looked at me? Just a little girl, I had no voice, you kept me down without a choice. You gave heartache and pain, said I was your endless shame.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 24

2 MIN READ

One Day We Will Be Free

By Matt

They talked to us about our struggles, their words we could not hear, while being condemned and held accountable; our vision was not clear.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 24

1 MIN READ

All for One, One for All at Bandyup

By Ruth

Bandyup is a place, where we are a mixed race. It doesn’t matter where we are from, we should support each other as one.

Creative

ISSUE NO. 24

1 MIN READ