Jalen Boyd 2nd Blog Post Aspects of a Prisoner's Happiness: Creative Writing

Part I
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Many prisoners utilize their time imprisoned to express themselves creatively. I will be talking about my personal favorite prison author that I have come across that used their creative minds to produce expressive literature.

Carolyn Baxter participated in the Free Space Writing Project while serving time in the New York City Correctional Institution for Women and her poetry was quick to pick up attention. Her poems have been anthologized  in Songs from a Free Space: Writings by Women in Prison, Joseph Bruchac's collection The Light from Another Country: Poetry from American Prisons, and Judith Scheffler's Wall Tappings: An Anthology of Writings by Women Prisoners. Baxter also had her very own collection of poetry that was published as Prison Solitary and Other Free Government Services: Poems by Carolyn Baxter. Here is one of her poems about a strict correctional officer that has a somewhat twisted sense of guardianship over the female prisoners.

35 Years a Correctional Officer

Ms. Goodall does not drink, swear, or masturbate. 

It's against God's will," she says.

Ms. Goodall does not gamble, gets paid to be slick

an' creep around after 1:00 AM to listen for creaking beds, so she can give out incident reports

to anyone she catches by the creaks 

of their bed "Masturbating!"

"It's against God's will," she says.

So I lay naked on floor, along with cold

tile, I feel like a private under the bunk, 

hiding from the enemy. 

/as her Sears/Roebuck crepe soles creep by the door

I wanted to ask, what's the difference between a 

creaking bed/a manic breathing heavy under the door.