Issue No. 21 • Spring 2020
Five Haiku Plus Two
“Five Haiku Plus Two,” Geneva J. Phillips
Scored by Kenyatta Hughes
Read by Ammayeh Benton with Musicambia’s String Quartet
Geneva J. Phillips was awarded an Honorable Mention in Poetry in the 2018 Prison Writing Contest.
Grace Notes
“Grace Notes,” Matthew Mendoza
Scored by James “Moe” Torres
Read by Ian Manuel (poem featured in Just Mercy) with music by Musicambia’s String Quartet (who teach in prisons around the country)
Matthew Mendoza won the 2018 PEN Prison Writers Poetry Award and a Finalist for the American Short Fiction Insider Prize. His play, “Freedom Feather,” was performed at the Brooklyn Book Festival as part of Break Out: Voices from the Inside: 2018. Grace Notes & Other Poems is coming soon from Swimming With Elephants Publications. Matthew Mendoza answers Hate Mail, Love Letters, and Questionnaires and thanks you for hearing him. You can write to Matthew at: Matthew Mendoza #1363896, T.L. Roach Unit 15845 FM 164 Childress, TX 79201.
James Torres is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, speaker, and peer educator. He's performed and spoken at two TEDx Sing Sing events, and cofounded the Jeptha program that provides art and music education to individuals living in mental health segregation in maximum security facilities.
Going Forward With Gus
“Going Forward With Gus,” by Sterling Cunio
Read by Robert Pollock, choreographed by Dushaan Gillum in collaboration with Dances For Solidarity, danced by Joshua Palmer
