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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Swimming in an hourglass
dodging a hearse
Quarantined in prison
doubting my self-worth.
When COVID hit my loved ones,
that’s when I felt it the worst.
Overwhelming and intense quarantines
Locked up, locked down, everyday no vaccine
Standard Isolation …
forget the protocol
I mask up to prevent contagion,
all the while keeping a sound mind.
However, COVID-19 is constricting
my soul like a python
waitin’ on a vaccine
is like running a marathon with no shoes on.

Quarantined in prison
alienated from society …
Where the CO’s are trippin’
And they limit our privacy. 

So locked down it takes
All my energy 
to guard what little patience 
is left inside of me. 
but 
they tell me
to take one day at a time
Enough is Enough!

I have virtual visitation
but I’m deprived of 
my family’s touch

Just utilizing dreams and memories
COVID got us powerless … Much!

Quarantined in Prison,
Is like swimming in an hourglass
And it sucks …

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

Cornell Shawell is an African American writer incarcerated in Pennsylvania. He is an aspiring writer of poetry and children’s novels.