prison poem
Josephine Kelly
Unit 1 is where they put the girls
who refused to get off the carousel.
kissing girlfriends and curly shaved heads.
Unit 2 they put the boys with too many bug bites.
they dug deep into the earth
and came back with bloodied hands.
No more bars,
just windows like clouds.
sun peaking jazz tunes over
the hexagon of air -
- basketball honeycomb.
students shed skins into cubbies,
laughing because
they’ve never heard of
Dolly Parton.
Their memories keep calling
from the payphone.
a silent ring shattering spacetime.
Restraint of
crooked teeth
lining the hillside.
cows grazing over worried tongues.
the gaze of the future
between steps of red brick.
bookshelves built on the
collision of bodymind.
authoring the guide
on how forgotten children
live in dreams.
Josephine Raye Kelly is a queer writer living among the redwoods on the Pacific Coast. They find inspiration in alien-shaped chihuahuas, the asexuality of succulents, and Dolly Parton. Josephine’s words are featured or forthcoming in beestung, Gaia Lit, and Chinquapin Literary Magazine. They hold an MSW from Cal State East Bay and a BA in Literature from UC Santa Cruz.