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

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ISSUE NO. 19

February 2026

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Poetry

Less

By

John

John writes from a prison in VIC.

Jonny Gios via Unsplash

The outside on the inside

Steals passion for fun

When arrows come from far and wide

Facing the new shiny sun

with dignity

There are ribbons in the fire

And lives still painfully on hold

Beneath the folds of desire

The barred windows still remain cold

indefinitely

When recognition cannot be found

Or trust and pride have no sound

Then those minds roll ‘round and round

They cannot find any common ground

respectively

So the outcasts may play together

Live trapped among the barbed wire

Unmasked souls on a sorry tether

Can never form a knowing gyre

insensitivity

For when lives are flung aside

And battle is all they know

Then worth will always hide

Awake for some endless show

expressivity

The outsider on the inside

Wears the mask of the alone

In crowds of waste and glory

They often forget about Home

eternally

The outside on the inside

Steals passion for fun

When arrows come from far and wide

Facing the new shiny sun

with dignity

There are ribbons in the fire

And lives still painfully on hold

Beneath the folds of desire

The barred windows still remain cold

indefinitely

When recognition cannot be found

Or trust and pride have no sound

Then those minds roll ‘round and round

They cannot find any common ground

respectively

So the outcasts may play together

Live trapped among the barbed wire

Unmasked souls on a sorry tether

Can never form a knowing gyre

insensitivity

For when lives are flung aside

And battle is all they know

Then worth will always hide

Awake for some endless show

expressivity

The outsider on the inside

Wears the mask of the alone

In crowds of waste and glory

They often forget about Home

eternally

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