As part of my New Year’s resolution to feature more voices of prisoners here, I found this poem called Another Day in Stephen John Hartnett’s new book Challenging the Prison Industrial Complex: Activism, Arts, & Educational Alternatives. The poem was written by Erika Baro who is a member of the Writing Workshop at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility. The piece was first published in Captured Words/Free Thoughts 6 (Spring 2009).

By Erika Baro

Laying in a pool of tears
Hidden by darkness
I wander lost between the hundreds
Of stars that decorate the night sky

As my voice whispers strangely
Driving me deeper into a madness
I cannot escape
I drift farther and farther away
On an infinite path to nowhere

But just as the last drop of hope slips away
A faint ray of light falls on my face
The sunrise dries my tears
And I realize I’ve survived

I will live another day