Gretchen Primack

Knowledge (East Wing)

                                     Eastern Correctional


I honor life by not taking it anymore. Not a fish’s life.
Not a calf’s. No one’s brother or child.

I did violence. I put it between my teeth
and it formed my blood, and I took blood.

Now I eat what they ate in Eden before violence.
Now I ask forgiveness for the life I’ve taken

that wasn’t mine to take—the man, and the calves
and fishes, the chicks and their mothers.

The cops laugh. Their work is domination.
They lord over, and some men on the block

call themselves kings. But I am done with that
in every soul of me, every body.

This poem is part of Visiting Days (Willow Books, April 2019), a collection that explores the world of a maximum-security men's prison primarily through persona poems. Though I've spent a lot of time in such facilities, the vast majority of the poems aren't in the voices of men I know but imaginary men inspired by them. This poem is an exception: "Knowledge" is based squarely on someone I met who, like me, is an activist on behalf of non-human animals. This man, Intelligent, developed an anti-violence philosophy while incarcerated as part of his rehabilitation, and in doing so "extended his circle of compassion to include all living things," as Albert Schweitzer urges. To Intelligent, violence is violence, whether it is to a man or a hen. He maintained a vegan lifestyle within prison walls, an enormous challenge. He's since been released and continues his peace activism. I wanted to honor him and his philosophy, and share his message of compassion, in Visiting Days.


Knight (South Hall)

Poisoned water, poisoned sleep
ground under the heel of my pillow.
If I didn’t know your cell song,
I would think I tread the red
circle alone.

But Etheridge, I found you
here, and I have rolled
myself up in your night speech,
so I know something good
come out of prison.

And I have pressed against
the western wall, so I know
you saw through stone.

It’s not visions in my cell,
never those. Tony hung
from his sheet and I see him.
I see the bars cut the sheet
into pieces across from me.
But not as visions.

And I’d like to report to you,
Sir Knight who gifted me
a name:
Sometimes the wind rings
in this ear and then the other,
but this poetman will die
as trumpets.

Something good come out
of prison.

Note: This poem is part of Visiting Days (Willow Books, April 2019), a collection that explores the world of a maximum-security men's prison primarily through persona poems. "Knight (East Wing)" includes several phrases from brilliant poems that Etheridge Knight wrote in prison. I have taught in prisons for many years and wanted to honor Etheridge Knight's enormous influence.


About the Author

Gretchen Primack is the author of the poetry collection Visiting Days (Willow Books 2019) and two others, Kind (Post-Traumatic Press), which explores the dynamic between humans and (other) animals, and Doris’ Red Spaces (Mayapple Press). Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, FIELD, Antioch Review, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, and other journals.

Primack has administrated and taught with education programs in prison and jail for many years and moonlights at an indie bookstore in Woodstock, NY. Also an advocate for non-human animals, she also co-wrote, with Jenny Brown, The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals (Penguin Avery). Her website is www.gretchenprimack.com.

(click here to close this window)