Slapped in the Face by Walls
The Academy of American Poets published my essay “Slapped in the Face by Walls” this week. In this piece I am […]
Author: Alison Pelegrin
Poetic Reflections on Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
I am so proud to attach the video of the poets reading their work created in response to Captive State: Louisiana and […]
Captive State
The Historic New Orleans Collection has an incredible exhibit running now through January 19, 2005: Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of […]
To the Poets of Raymond Laborde CC
I’ll begin with this–in the town of Cottonport, Louisiana, I saw sugarcane for miles. There are two prisons here–Raymond Laborde Correctional Center, […]
Make It Count
There are a lot of ways to mark the passing of time in a prison. I keep time on my watch–not my […]
Eternal Travelers
Eternal Travelers Basho–the famed Japanese haiku master and ‘eternal traveler’ lived in Japan from 1644-1694. His poems are known worldwide thanks […]
Visiting the Poetry Group at Louisiana State Prison
When I was invited to speak to the poetry group at Louisiana State Prison (it’s known as Angola, and sits on 18,000 […]
Poetry in Louisiana Prisons and Communities
I was deeply honored to be named Louisiana Poet Laureate for 2023-2025, despite a troubling question for which I had no answer: […]