Poetry by Reginald Manning

Currency
By Reginald Manning

Violence is the currency of prison.
I wish not to invest.
For every exchange I partake in,
I lose myself less and less.
Before the iron fastened my wrist,
Before my ankles were shackled in chains.
I understood the economy of life,
I store the transactions in my brain.
I became a consumer behind these walls,
A customer who spent without credit.
My soul was the collateral I borrowed against, now the beast has come to collect it.
Violence is the currency of prison, it is spent without regard for tomorrow.
No judge or jury will ever know how I’ve paid my debt in sorrow.