Brothers in Solidarity

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/10439862221096721
• Author: Charles Tooker

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862221096721

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2022, Vol. 38(2) 187

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862221096721

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Essay

Brothers in Solidarity

By Charles Tooker

Taps knocks buzz-whirs

Traps locks curse-words

Fuck my reaction!

Regain Neuro traction

Control breathing & placate seething

In through the nose, out through the mouth—

that shits for the birds; send it south

Step away, count to 10, then back to 1

Oh, it’s a lifestyle, my friend, you’re never done

Merely existing yet hoping to live, & to beg that we forgive

Or, at least, beg your pardon as I sow my garden

Meanwhile weedin’ & weedin’, cultivating

my addled vision of Eden

Alas forever tortured by but a pindrop

A quick start, a sudden stop

While you simply thwart pain by knowing

reds on yellas kill fellas,

I limply shun sidewalks in the rain

terrified by umbrellas

Ration and reason are so last season

The new black is passion & mental treason

Ripe to scratch out my eyes from phantom sorrow,

But recall I just used them today and’ll likely

need them again tomorrow

So, you think you can tell heaven from hell

Blue skies from rain?

Can you tell a green field from a barren plain?

Do you think you can tell?

Taps from knocks, buzzes from whirs;

Traps from locks, curses from words?

I can’t—Fuck!

*spoken word-poetry inspired by incessant, relentless PTSD triggers in prison, elicit-

ing knee-jerk mental, physical, &, all-too-often, vocal, reactions.

1096721CCJXXX10.1177/10439862221096721Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

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