These were my feeling in jail. These things in here is what inmates go through. I cried I laughed while writing this book. I hope you can feel what I felt writing these. This is all my feelings I went through and other inmates went through. I am home now, I have been clean and am going by my probation. I thank you everyone who has read this book, and I really hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Adapted from the Persian by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani based on translations by Violette and Ali Nakhjavani, these poems testify to the courage and the despair, the misery and the hopes of thousands of Iranians struggling to survive conditions of extreme oppression.

Winner of the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry Finalist for the 2019 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry A searing volume by a poet whose work conveys "the visceral effect that prison has on identity" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). Felon tells the story of the effects of incarceration in fierce, dazzling poems—canvassing a wide range of emotions and experiences through homelessness, underemployment, love, drug abuse, domestic violence, fatherhood, and grace—and, in doing so, creates a travelogue for an imagined life. Reginald Dwayne Betts confronts the funk of postincarceration existence and examines prison not as a static space, but as a force that enacts pressure throughout a person’s life. The poems move between traditional and newfound forms with power and agility—from revolutionary found poems created by redacting court documents to the astonishing crown of sonnets that serves as the volume’s radiant conclusion. Drawing inspiration from lawsuits filed on behalf of the incarcerated, the redaction poems focus on the ways we exploit and erase the poor and imprisoned from public consciousness. Traditionally, redaction erases what is top secret; in Felon, Betts redacts what is superfluous, bringing into focus the profound failures of the criminal justice system and the inadequacy of the labels it generates. Challenging the complexities of language, Betts animates what it means to be a "felon."

"Bob Kaufman's life is written on mirrors in smoke."--Jack Kerouac "So much did he embody a French tradition of the poet as outsider, madman, and outcast, that in France, Kaufman was called the Black Rimbaud."--David Henderson "He was an original voice. No one else talked like him. No one else wrote poetry like him."--Lawrence Ferlinghetti TheCollected Poems of Bob Kaufman brings together every known surviving poem by this major African-American surrealist, including the three books published in his lifetime,Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness,Golden Sardine, andThe Ancient Rain. With over 30 previously uncollected works,Collected Poems is the first comprehensive presentation of this truly original, streetwise autodidact and member of the Beat Generation. Included here are a foreword by devorah major, reminiscences by editors Raymond Foye and Neeli Cherkovski, and a biographical timeline by editor Tate Swindell, which chronicles this elusive poet's movements across the country and around the world.Collected Poems is a landmark poetic achievement and marks Kaufman's welcome return to City Lights Publishers. Praise forCollected Poems of Bob Kaufman: "With this magnetic new unveiling Bob Kaufman trenchantly sunders endemic retrocausal error and neglect that his casted his fate into a secondary enclave of lesser mastery. To set the story straight it was his spirit that helped sire the Ginsberg that we know and not vice versa. It was he who magically hoisted the invisible umbrella under which Kerouac and others such as Corso were enabled to protractedly flourish. Arrested 39 times for poetic brilliance via bravura he was the absolute contrary of the sterile academic scrounging for golden verbal eggs. Never concerned with immediate notoriety he passed across unerring emptiness as a poetic lahar sweeping in all directions at once. He volcanically en-veined the Beats as a mirage enveloped Surrealist; not as a formal poet, but one, like Rimbaud, who embodied butane. Following the scent of his butane on one anonymous North Beach afternoon led Philip Lamantia to audibly utter to me that Bob Kaufman as per incandescent singularity is 'our poet.'"--Will Alexander "Bob Kaufman is one our most vulnerable, mysterious and beautiful of poets, a nomadic maudit, surrealist saint of the streets, votary of silence, the consummate Outrider with trickster imagination and visionary power. What does it take to be such a poet-man, veils/layers of existence laced with hardship, suffering? Not many like this anymore. The Black American Rimbaud, as he was christened in France. His poems make me weep and bow with humility and wonder. I last saw him, shape-shifting shaman on Ken Kesey's stage in Oregon, swirling in a torque of rage, enlightenment, and prescience. Pure product of America's madness: fury and tenderness. The writing is complex and lays its soul baring down on jazz inflected syllables and riffs for all to read and tremble within. No serious canon is complete without this insistent rhythm, poetic acuity, and a body's last resort to sing."--Anne Waldman "Uplifting the voice of this under-sung literary master to future's light is the mission of theCollected Poems of Bob Kaufman. This poet's poet on the cliff edge of no ledge is still continuing to foster new surrealizations. Read this bebopian wordsmith, his pen turned saxophone and ink notes that are black tears."--Kamau Daaood

The inspiring story of activist and poet Ian Manuel, who at the age of fourteen was sentenced to life in prison. He survived eighteen years in solitary confinement—through his own determination and dedication to art—until he was freed as part of an incredible crusade by the Equal Justice Initiative. “Ian is magic. His story is difficult and heartbreaking, but he takes us places we need to go to understand why we must do better. He survives by relying on a poetic spirit, an unrelenting desire to succeed, to recover, and to love. Ian’s story says something hopeful about our future.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy The United States is the only country in the world that sentences thirteen- and fourteen-year-old offenders, mostly youth of color, to life in prison without parole. In 1991, Ian Manuel, then fourteen, was sentenced to life without parole for a non-homicide crime. In a botched mugging attempt with some older boys, he shot a young white mother of two in the face. But as Bryan Stevenson, attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has insisted, none of us should be judged by only the worst thing we have ever done. Capturing the fullness of his humanity, here is Manuel’s powerful testimony of growing up homeless in a neighborhood riddled with poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse—and of his efforts to rise above his circumstances, only to find himself, partly through his own actions, imprisoned for two-thirds of his life, eighteen years of which were spent in solitary confinement. Here is the story of how he endured the savagery of the United States prison system, and how his victim, an extraordinary woman, forgave him and bravely advocated for his freedom, which was achieved by an Equal Justice Initiative push to address the barbarism of our judicial system and bring about “just mercy.” Full of unexpected twists and turns as it describes a struggle for redemption, My Time Will Come is a paean to the capacity of the human will to transcend adversity through determination and art—in Ian Manuel’s case, through his dedication to writing poetry.

A moving, spare collection of poetry on life behind bars. The author is currently serving 8 years for armed robbery. All encased in the usual lavish, beautiful CrimethInc production.

From the coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul—a program that develops positive change for inmates and their loved ones With their books Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul, Tom and Laura Lagana have shown readers how to make positive use of their time—whether they are serving others or serving time. In Serving Productive Time they go one step further, using powerful stories, poems, and cartoons created by inmates and others to address the realities of penal existence. They build on these voices of experience with essays and advice that show inmates how to truly make their time count, and give meaning to their lives right now, while making amends for their crimes and working toward release. Inspires inmates to use programs and resources, perform positive deeds, and acquire skills Empowers correctional staff, counselors, families, and volunteers to help inmates who want to make positive changes in their lives

Incarceration. Pain. Change. Miracles. Spending time in jail isn’t easy for anyone who has been forced to have that experience. Spending time in jail for what you deserve is God’s and humankind’s justice. Spending time in jail out of God’s mercy is something completely different. This is what I want to share about in Jailhouse Journals. It was because of God’s justice that I got the sentence I deserved for the crimes I committed, but in his mercy, the experience in jail was more than what I had ever expected. To get the help I needed while in jail gave me hope not only for me but also for those who may be reading this to get help from the trap of sexual addiction. The purpose of these journals is to inspire them that God is not only real, but he is also a loving God and will help them change if they are willing to do so, and that there is actually a system of incarceration, called right living community, as a rehabilitation approach to serving a sentence rather than just doing hard time. I am hoping that maybe, just maybe, that anyone reading this can be averted from committing a senseless sexual crime against another because they now have hope and can work up the courage to get the help they need. Finally, this book is also for any victim of sexual offences committed against them so that they can receive inner healing and possibly even work up the ability to forgive their perpetrator for their horrendous acts. I have discovered that forgiveness sets the one doing the forgiving free emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, more so than the one being forgiven. These journals also show that there is a road map to getting specific help; the fact that proper counseling; good cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) courses; support groups such as AA, NA, SAA, and Celebrate Recovery, and even taking an amazing course developed by my chaplain that is called Spiritual Perspective on Sexuality as a means to receiving better emotional wholeness and well-being, making better decisions and developing better thinking patterns. Be set free. Receive healing. Experience transformation. Watch miracles flow!