Dear World By Rahan Asaan Dear World: Hello, how have you been? I’ve missed you since I’ve been away. I’m writing because I can’t hold in these horrors I live every day. I’m not okay, but I’ll survive, I just hope not to lose my soul. This place tends to eat you alive as time begins to take its toll. Trapped with the worst of mankind, (still doing the best that I can) It won’t matter if I lose my mind; after all, wasn’t this the plan? Dear World, I’m reaching out to you, while apologizing for my crimes. But I’m exposing the wrongs my captors do which I’ve witnessed a thousand times; I see evil in their eyes and hear hatred in their voices; I’m forced to listen to their lies since they’ve left me few choices. They can take from us all we own, with the exception of my pride. They read my mail and block your phone Hoping your love can’t get inside. Dear World, will I see you again, or am I trapped behind these doors? Vincent O’Bannon // SQNews
Dante D. Jones // SQNews — Illustration by Andrew Hardy // SQNews
grates families. We should take Grandma Leona’s advice seriously and repair the intergenerational trauma that has endured throughout the decades. Incarceration, ironically, provides an opportunity for us to do so. Sitting in a carceral institution has allowed me — and others like me — to see the true value in having a loving and healthy relationship with another human being — especially a human being like my wife Lily. Some of us have been blessed with an undying commitment and the opportunity to fix what could have been eternally broken. Wives like Lily, Wendy, and Stacie are rare. But they do give us all hope that marriage isn’t a dying business.
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Please write back, but until then: Lots of love. Sincerely yours… SPRING 2023
WALL CITY
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