credit – painesplough

We have returned to our regular writing inside VT program with women inmates at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, VT.

Last week, we wrote from George Ella Lyon’s wonderful poem titled “Where I’m From.” This simple phrase is rich with possibility.

The eight women who returned to the circle after a summer hiatus seemed hungry to put pen to paper once more, most of them writing a full page in the 15 minutes provided.

The sense of place – both the physical and emotional places of childhood – stay with us at deep sensory levels throughout our lives. Words from our windowless room confirmed these roots of ‘memory and moments,’ as one woman wrote. Diversity and depth describe the variety of experiences that formed each of us around the table.

With just a few words captured from each reader, the following poem shares a microcosm of where these women, collectively, are from. Each stanza condenses the words from a single woman’s writing. Continue reading →