WINTER’S END | PLAYING THE NUMBERS BLUES | IF THE SPRING IS SILENT

 

WINTER’S END

this leafless tree
is alive
with the dance
of birds

this drizzle
reminds me
of dew

the silence of this bell
is probably just
a sleight of sound

this absence of Light
may be long
but
in the immensity of the sky
it is a fleeting cloud
with sunbeams riding
on its lining

(c) Julia Wright. February 25, 2025. All Rights Reserved.

 

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PLAYING THE NUMBERS BLUES

“A pilot initiative in Chester’s state prison modeled after the jail system in Scandinavian countries will be expanded to three other state prisons, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections announced last week. Nicknamed “Little Scandinavia,” the pilot program at State Correctional Institution-Chester is made up of a 64-bed unit and has become one of the safest and most desirable units in the 1,100-bed medium-security Delaware County state prison, officials said. The program was created by researchers at Drexel University and the University of Oslo to test whether the Nordic restorative justice model would lead to lower recidivism rates when applied to a very different criminal justice system in the United States. (…) Anyone incarcerated at SCI Chester is eligible for the random lottery to participate in the Little Scandinavia program (…)”.

by Gillian McGoldrick in the Philadelphia Inquirer, March 9th 2025

we were decimated
in numbers

in our lack of community
we play that lottery
we call the numbers – to numb
our lack
of leaders and hope

we wear a number
behind bars

like the throwaway produce
we are
we go from expiry date
to expiry date
when sentenced
to die

and now
we will be allowed to play
our life
on state issued numbers’ tickets
to earn the privilege
to enjoy the renovation
of death by incarceration
in a slightly upgraded first class

(c) Julia Wright. March 11, 2025. All Rights.

 

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IF THE SPRING IS SILENT

remembering Rachel Carson

losing the sun
doesn’t mean
i will grow cold

growing cold
doesn’t mean
the Spring won’t come

if the Spring is silent
and fails to put an end
to hurricane
upon hurricane
the stricken gull i am
will lick her wounds
and create her own season
to soar on high
again

(c) Julia Wright. March 16, 2025. All Rights reserved.