PRISON HOPE

Each morning I am awakened by an incessant knock of hope on

The corrugated steel bars that envelop my 6x9 prison cell.

The echoes of he knock bounce off the concrete walls saturating my cell and spirit with a glimmer of hope.

Suddenly the glimmer dissipates as the prison morning meal bell rings and the prison doors begin unlocking. An exodus emerges as the inmates file into the corridors to attend to the morning meal. The cacophony of voices and prison doors slamming quickly reminds me of my captivity.

Reality snatches my fleeting thoughts of hope as they try to escape my plight, slamming them to the crude concrete floor. Shattering the hope I had seconds ago into a thousand pieces. quickly try to collect the shattered pieces and reassemble them.

As I am reassembling the broken pieces, I notice that each piece has a word written on it. Hope, faith, strength, resiliency, endurance.

An overwhelming feeling of wanting to change my conditions permeates my thoughts,  but my mind and body are waged in a war. A war that has rendered me inoperable.

Each knock reminds me that there is still hope no matter how distant the sound seems. At times, I am deaf to the sound, but the vibrations of the knock always manage to be felt if I concentrate enough.

It is during these times of despair that the vibrations sustain me. The evolution of my being has survived years of combat and struggle. I am strengthened by my past, while many people’s hope to reach the knock wither away.

Even if I never escape the walls that imprison my mind and body and obtain freedom from bondage, I still have the knock of hope that awakens me each morning.

Chris Bowers # 518994

Jccc

Jefferson City, MO