In September 2013, the New York Probation Office published “Free Verse,” the first issue of a poetry journal that emerged from the thoughts of those waiting in the probation office at the Bronx Neighborhood Opportunity Network (NeON), a collaborative of community organizations, government agencies, local businesses, and community residents focused on connecting probation clients who live in the neighborhood with opportunities, resources and services.

As described in its opening pages,

Free Verse is a journal of poetry, prose, and song that promotes turning waiting time into creative time. Headquartered in the heart of the waiting room of the new South Bronx NeOn – where probation clients check-in with their probation officers – FreeVerse solicits new writing created while people wait.

As described in Gwen McClure’s article on the Juvenile Justice Exchange, “Free Verse” was the brainchild of Loni Tanner, Chief Change Officer for the NYC Department of Design and Construction and Executive Director of See ChangeNYC, as well as Dave Johnson, the Poet-in-Residence at South Bronx NeOn. Tanner informally named the program, in its existence since April 2013, “Not School”—an acknowledgment that learning for young people does not need to only be confined within classroom walls. Instead, learning opportunities exist in the most unexpected places.  For Johnson, the program was a movement with a larger purpose than literacy and learning. As he explains,

This is a lot more than poetry; this is an opportunity to be welcomed back into society.

Thankfully, this innovative program has continued, recently releasing its Winter 2014 edition . Below are a few of my favorites from the collection:

I believe

in justice for all,

though no one opens a door.

in opportunity,

though the best ones don’t reach me.

in freedom, in equality,

but mostly I believe

in me.

TAISHA WILLIAMS

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The Good Fight

One day I will not have to fight you,

the partner I was given in this lottery of life

that looked so promising until the drawing

as each number was pulled, it was clear, it was not a winner,

just another one to go with the other ones

in a pile of must forget yesterdays.

One day I will not have to fight the voices in my head

of people’s words placed wrongly in my spirit,

the words that should have rolled off my back,

but somehow, were deposited in my future.

One day I will not have to fight the urge to write about the sorrows

that have been my tomorrows, before tomorrow has even gotten here.

One day I will fight the good fight of keeping

the roaring laughter from my belly, fighting to make it out like a raging lion.

One day I will fight to open the cocoon, to let the butterflies I protected, go free.

You’ll never know the pressure I endured, to be cut, into the diamond you see.

MARLITA DALTON

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Today,

I’m a life.

I’m not just passing by.

CRISTY BAPTISTE