Rent Felon: Poems

Synopsis

A searing volume by a poet whose work conveys the visceral effect that prison has on identity (New York Times).

Felon tells the story of one man in fierce, dazzling poems canvassing his wide range of emotions and experiences through homelessness, underemployment, love, drug abuse, domestic violence, fatherhood, and grace and, in doing so, creates a travelogue for an imagined life. Reginald Dwayne Betts confronts the funk of postincarceration existence and examines prison not as a static space, but as a force that enacts pressure throughout a person s life. Challenging the complexities of language, Betts animates what it means to be a felon.

From Night

What she tells me: prison killed you
my love, killed you so dead that you re not
here now, you re never here, you re always.

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