“No Love Lost,” by Heaven A.
Every day this week, The Imprint is publishing the winners from this year’s Words Unlocked Poetry Competition. The contest is held each year by BreakFree Education, and features the work of students in juvenile facilities around the country.
Today we feature on of this year’s Second Place finishers: “No Love Lost,” written by Heaven A. at Harris County Juvenile Detention Center in Texas.
No Love Lost
The door was locked
Resident around me flocked
Sedated and blocked
Looking lowly and largely for a leap to the free
Livid lost and surrounded by leery folks
Furious frantic ferocious fellows
Careless carefree cherry tossing items at me
Remembered Moma!
Her delicate touch cherished
She the candle of my life
Her love wider than the ocean
Know future lies around her.
If so, why am I here?
Life is feather
Flew folks to unknown territories
Forced to align to foreign treaties
Focused on connecting to trajectories
To land on freedom island
To feel heavenly pleasure
Because of the full treasure
That no one can measure
This year’s winning poems were selected by a group of 35 volunteer judges. The final judges for the Words Unlocked Poetry Competition were a group of distinguished poets and essayists that our friends at the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.
The theme for this year’s competition was “Coexistence”:
“Existing together and at the same time; living in peace with each other. The strength of human bonds, across different backgrounds and divides, is powerful. While we cannot choose whether or not to live with others, we can choose how we want to do so. When we embrace tolerance, respect, and forgiveness, when we focus our relationships on shared meaning, we find success.”
BreakFree Education’s mission is to radically improve education in the juvenile and criminal justice systems by investing in the potential and dignity of all its students. To learn more about the Words Unlocked Poetry Competition and BreakFree Education’s poetry-writing curriculum for juvenile facilities, click here.
