A large crowd packed into the gallery of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies on Congress St. last Thursday for the opening of an exhibit of poetry by women incarcerated in the Maine state correctional system. The poems are the result of a year of creative writing workshops conducted by Family Crisis Services, a Maine-based non-profit that works with victims of domestic violence.
Hanging next to almost all of the poems is a portrait of the poem’s author, expertly photographed by Christine Heinz, the Salt Institute’s Director of Operations and Marketing. Heinz has a unique gift for capturing the emotional character of her subjects, and her careful lighting and framing choices eloquently compliment the rawness of the poems.
The penetratingly honest poems all begin with the words “The truth about me is.” From there, they diverge as each poet tries to make sense of her life in prison and the events that led her there.
While each is unique, many of the poems deal with the same difficult issues. Most of the poets have families and young children who offer a source of light in their otherwise dark lives. Many of the poets deal explicitly with the way in which the drug addiction that eventually brought them to prison made them lose track of right and wrong and hurt people they loved.
Perhaps because admitting to their crimes would affect their chances at parole, only a few of the poets actually describe the crimes that they are serving time for in any depth. Even fewer have the Herculean courage to look at the effects their crimes have had on the lives of others.
One of the poems really stood out from the rest. In it, Higgins (as the poet succinctly signed it) explores the compulsive behavior that drove her to commit crimes she knew were wrong again and again. Higgins does not try to point fingers at society or drugs or the past in order to explain her behavior; she tells the dirty and frightening truth and accepts the monstrous responsibility.
Although the poems often talk about the loneliness of being locked up for extended periods of time and the hopelessness of being trapped in a cycle of drug use and crime, almost all of them end with uplifting and hopeful messages. Shockingly, few express rage at the prison system, and only one poet claims to be innocent and points her finger at the police.
The reception at the gallery ended with an introduction to the members of the team who put the exhibit together followed by a live reading of some of the poems. Three of the women who had been released read their poems, almost crying in front of the supportive audience and their reunited families. Five other poems were read by employees of Family Crisis Services.
The exhibit will be on display at the Salt Institute, 561 Congress St., through Dec. 4.?