This section publishes creative contributions mostly from currently and formerly incarcerated people. It includes short-stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, art, and much more.
If you have something creative to submit to us, we would love to read it, or see it, and publish it in About Time – please write to us!
Regardless of how we are feeling, days still start and end. Regardless of what I do, what others do, what happens to me or what happens to them.
On an icy day, we’ll meet again, on a silent path, free from pain. No greetings spoken, no sparks to fly, just a quiet knowing in each other’s eye.
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.
The calls we hear every day, whether guilty or claiming you’re innocent, there’s a price we each must pay. “It’s a privilege not a right” you’ll hear the screws say, but the moment you’re behind those bars, your control is taken away.
A poem for the one true love of my life, I wish I could change the past, but I can only change my future.
She saw his will and was convinced, she listened to his lies and was convinced, she looked into his eyes and trusted his smiles, she was convinced.
I yearn to spend loving time with my Mother, to reunite with my sister and brother, to introduce my kin to the new man I am.
I hear the sirens wailing, I know the cops are coming, to my door, I let down my family, even my kids, friends and all.
How would it be, to be set free, yes, I’d smile with glee, no guilty plea.
Life is only short my son, with so many paths to take, life is an uphill struggle, with every step you make. That’s why you must treasure life, with every second of the day, because you may never know, when it’s your turn to go away.
Once upon a time, a sleepy little shrub lived a contented but impoverished life in a quiet shady corner of a garden. Although the little shrub did not complain, it was much smaller than most of its other friends, and its branches were thin and twig-like.
I remember the day I saw you, I held your tiny form. The chilly air made you tremble, so, we took you home. You grew up so quickly, to our great surprise, and tore around the unit, right before our eyes.
Our ego asked what is our purpose. We search for enlightenment, it’s in us all. Happiness is a choice so make it yours. Forgiveness of others will lead you to peace.
Sitting in this cage, barbed wire all around. Been transported here, but first my wrists are bound. Heavy metal locked, no chance of breaking free.
The brooding castle had overlooked our town since time immemorial. Its dark parapets loomed over us, perched high on the behemoth mountain so familiar to me. I had lived in its shadow my whole life.
Doing time together, under lock and key, but helping others can set your mind free. The past is gone, the future’s not arrived, focus on now, be glad to be alive.
I found this poem titled Until and I wrote a poem on my reflection to it.
Now sit in cell of nought to read, the glasses gone! Of what I need! I ask the system, to provide, for that, my sight be magnified.
This painting was inspired by a photo that I found in the National Geographic of January 2011 taken by Robin Hammond. It’s a gold miner in the border province of Manica.
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