Penitentiary inmates write poetry for local trail
Project gave them a chance for reflection
When five inmates at the Penitentiary of New Mexico volunteered to write poetry for the Institute of American Indian Arts, they knew they wouldn’t be able to see their work as it went up display for its intended audience — walkers on a south Santa Fe trail.
Instead, prison librarian Roseanna Andrade brought the poems’ outdoor setting to them, recreating within prison walls the scene where the poems now can be seen and read by passers-by.
With about 25 color photos of IAIA’s Health and Wellness Trail, Andrade set up her own “trail” throughout the prison library on the same weekend in April that the inmates’ work went up for public viewing on the campus walking path.
Inmates from the minimum security unit walked through the library like an art gallery, looking at the scenery and reading the poetic works that, outdoors at IAIA, have been placed in display cases atop five wooden posts along the trail.
One inmate’s poem personifies the environment as a person to fall in love with; another tells a detailed story of snow melting off a flower; another describes nature as an escape from the world’s harsh realities.
The five poems will be on display on the IAIA trail until August.
Andrade said her recreation of the trail caught the eye of the inmates’ friends and prison staff, who also organized a contest where participants voted for the poem they liked best.
“People were reading them and congratulating each other,” said Andrade, a 2016 IAIA alumnus who began working at the prison in November. “It was a way to see (the inmates) are doing things, and everyone was interested.”
Andrade requested poems from the inmates in March after James Thomas Stevens, her former teacher and an IAIA associate professor of creative writing, had learned of her position at the penitentiary and wanted to provide opportunities for new groups to submit work to show on the Health and Wellness Trail.
She then received approval from the prison’s former Deputy Warden Clarence Olivas. She told him it wouldn’t cost anything and she knew there would be interest. Her prison clients had previously expressed interest in more programming and involvement with the library.
“I was really surprised,” she said. “We got really thoughtful, full of emotion and feelings, reflections. To me, that just shows they wanted to express this; they took this opportunity to capture those feelings.”
She received submissions from minimum security inmates John Lujan, Larry Walters, Christopher Paige, Felix Moriel and Jose Gamez. They had two weeks to write a nature-themed poem to match the trail setting.
“Here’s a population that doesn’t have the opportunity to hike trails and be out in nature, here’s a chance to reflect on that and what does that mean for them,” she said.
The posts along the trail have been used to display poems, collected by Stevens, since the trails’ creation about four years ago.
In the past, the work has been from IAIA students and local high schoolers.
Stevens said asking for inmate poems was a “spur of the moment” decision, but the idea matches the college’s mission of community outreach. He plans to continue asking local groups to submit work.
“I do think it will open people’s minds,” said Stevens. “People don’t immediately think of the penitentiary as somewhere poetry is coming out of, when really it comes out of every community.”
Stevens, a lifelong poet, said it was interesting to see how naturally the inmates picked up poetry structure, without any kind of poetry class before they were asked to turn in their work. Some had never written poetry before, but Andrade said they looked at the library’s poetry books and were eager to learn.
“They knew where the line should break and should pause ... it was interesting to see writers who are untrained doing the exact thing,” said Stevens.
Andrade said the inmates also are getting support from their families. She said Gamez’s relatives had planned a trip to see the poetry trail, while Lujan sent his piece to his family. It was the first time he’d showed them
his writing.
Andrede hopes she’ll have another opportunity to offer inmates poetry programming again.
“It allows people to channel their energy in positive ways, constructive ways,” she said.