My Daughter’s Prison Break

When seven
Holding your paintbrush
In hand
You captured a geranium
On paper
Bold
Bright
And vivid
As if alive
A splash of red
A brown pot
Green leaves
A child’s masterpiece
Hanging now
On my bedroom wall

But now you paint prison walls
Windows
And hallways
Spaces for men and women
Captured alive
Locked up
And stripped of hope
Any views of life outside
They are hemmed in
And held behind bars
Both metal and mental

Beholding extraordinary paintings and drawings
Created by incarcerated men and women
You organize a prison break
For their best works
You set canvasses and papers
Free
Sending words
Images
Hopes
And dreams
Out through the bars
The blinds
And the locked doors
To hang freely
Outside prison walls
Displayed proudly now
Hanging vivid
Bold
And bright on museum walls