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.