Portside

I think of him

as a victim

(a veteran)

of war--

every day was

the enemy

in a house-

hold that thought

children should

be punished

with barbed wire,

belts, burns, punches,

pinches, slaps, kicks,

starvation. Where meth

was the vitamin,

sex was the money,

where poverty was

the neighborhood,

poverty was

the country

and nobody ever

called him honey

until high school

freed him to be

part of something

larger than himself,

a gang. They robbed

a convenience 

store; someone got

shot, killed--he did not

pull the trigger yet

here he is twenty

years later, life

without parole--

shaking my hand,

smiling at me,

thanking me

for helping him learn

one new word.

Poet and visual artist Susan Kelly Dewitt is the author of 5 books of poetry, most recently Frangible Operas. Her work has appeared widely. She is also former Program Director of the Sacramento Poetry Center, as well as a Poet in the Schools and Poet in the Prisons. You can find more about her at susankelly-dewitt.com.