Four Ozark Prison Sijo

by gino peregrini

These poems first appeared in the January 1999 issue of Lynx

An Ozark highway winding to the state capitol.
Walking a maze of corridors and locked gates to the prison school.
Even within a nest of cages, the inmates' voices escape.

Out in the yard, deals are done, convicts tend beds of marigolds.
Writing class in the state prison-these guys want to know everything.
Washing my hands, I see in the mirror the warden's eyes.

A one hundred mile drive to teach in the state women's prison.
For these women in a grey room, there's no freedom in Huck's raft trip.
While two women praise Hitler, another speaks of broom-handle rape.

A prison class reads Darrow, decides he's too liberal.
A guard tramps the corridor, glaring at the "pampered" inmates.
Our living room piano jumps with a parolee's bebop.

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