Category: Piece of the Week

by R, Missoula, Montana I feel helplessMy wrong doings…And I can’t do anything?Lost hope in a lost placeI forget thingsWhat did she look like again?What does being outside feel like?Will I ever be free again?“You can’t do that”“Not allowed”“Stop”“You can’t visit”Fourteen years oldNot allowed to see my parentsNot a single slice of freedomLocked upMy thoughts will wanderBut where will they take me next?Stress valley, crybaby city, hopeless homesIf you’re lucky, one day you’ll wake upFrom this dream…O n e d a y.

by None Of Your Business, Santa Clara I Got sent to South Illinois to live with my pops when I was sixteen. I had a way different mind set then, from now. They told me, “If you want to get out of jail go outta state.”  To me that was a great offer. The only downside was that I had a lot of hatred towards my pops. When he was living out here he was less than 15 miles and he couldn’t see the kid or never did he check up on me.  I felt played that I had to

by PR, Sonoma My dad has never came through or kept to his promises. I guess me and my sisters weren’t his first priority and he never tried to be there for us.  To me, it made me feel alone, neglected, and not worth being with. To be honest, I wish I had an answer because I never knew what was going on in my dad’s mind. I always thought it was because I wasn’t good enough or didn’t turn out as my dad wanted me to look like but to this day, I still don’t know. You know I

by Waiting To Be Given A Chance, Alameda The greatest test life has ever put me though was the system, this institution. I’ve dealt with a lot of things growing up as a black boy in this place we call “life.” I’ve lost friends, family members and myself at times. I was suffering with depression at a point in my life. At times I still do, but it was nothing like becoming a part of the “system.”  I first went to jail in July of 2021. I came to jail on one count of armed robbery and gun charge and

by Jeremiah, Santa Clara I hope for a better life every day, hope my life would change and the people in my life would appreciate me for the lifestyle I live. It’s not my fault I became who I am. I had to raise myself, learn the hard way and take care of my siblings. Life is hard and every day I hope life gets better. I hope I can separate myself from negativity instead of being a part of it.  I want to be able to have a happy life with my baby girl, stop living in a fake

by Elian, Marin A week before I got arrested I was at my house at around 11 pm. Three of my friends texted me to ask if they could come over. I said yes, so about thirty minutes later, they knocked on my door.  They brought me Takis and soda and were being hella loud. One of my homies was playing on my PC, and the rest of us were live on Instagram. Every time my homie died in the game, he screamed loudly, and the rest of us were loud too. After, we made some food, and we were

by Halo, San Francisco There are many words to describe me and people consider me to be an interesting person so one word that describes me is funny. A lot of people, well basically everybody, I mean their first impression of me are almost always funny because how easy I can make people laugh, how efficient my jokes and comebacks are, and how quick I think of things.  Another word that describes me is smart. Everybody who really knows me knows I’m smart as hell and I believe knowledge is key so I like to get as much knowledge as

by T, Sacramento One time when I was thirteen or fourteen, my mom caught me smoking in the house with my sister. She was mad. She was yelling for about an hour about how I want to be so grown and how I don’t listen to a thing she says. Then she started talking about how I don’t go to school and I’m failing.  The whole situation turned into me not going to school and how I think I’m grown. She forgot that she caught me smoking and was mad that I “wanted to be grown.” Another time I caught a

by FT, Billings, Montana I am from Butte MT. Sometimes you can taste copper from the mines.You can smell a lot of thingsdepending on what part of town you are in. Downtown smells like fast food.Uptown smells like flowers from the gardens. Sometimes I feel scared. Because you see kids on the streetsand doing drugs on the streets. People fighting each other for no reason at all.  But why does all of that make it home to me? Because it’s not where you arethat makes it homeit’s where you feel safe. Where I feel safe is with my family and friends. The ones who care about me. The ones who didn’t hurt me. The

 by Elian, Marin A lot of people have talked to me in my life, but the two people that they have talked to me is my grandma and my big homie. I remember one time my grandma talked to me for almost an hour. She was telling me to do good and asking me what I want to be in my future. I always didn’t know what to answer, but I still remember what she told me. She told me to not give up, ever,in life and every time I am giving myself up, it reminds me of my grandma,