Over the weekend, the Department of Probation celebrated the release of Free Verse, a poetry magazine published by probation clients and staff. Issue 1 of the magazine is available for free PDF download from the DOP here, and contains several gems, including “For Earl” by Yasmine B. Lancaster.
Duppy followed me from
Kingston to Morris Avenue.
I swung at everything moving,
finding peace in my fists.
According to a forward from the editors, many of the poems are created while clients wait at the South Bronx Neighborhood Opportunity Network, where they meet with their probation officers. “Our editorial staff is a mix of probation clients and community members, employed to serve as writing apprentices – right in the waiting room,” it reads. “Together we take loose lines from dusty pockets, stories left in the back of closets and acrobatic lyrics written on cell phones, lunch bags, pay stubs, and napkins, and we polish and tune them until they sing.”
It's long been known that the Department of Homeland Security scans everyone's social media pages for words it deems potentially threatening -- from "gas" to "subway" to "maritime domain awareness." Now, here's Poetry Threats, a Magnetic Poetry-style web app that lets you compose verse from those terms (just like this…
There seems to be a lot confusion over the new bill regarding subway sexual abuse. Forcible touching was already a misdemeanor crime in the state of New York under Section 130.52 of the penal law. The new statute, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Queens) and passed by the…
Cecily McMillan, the Occupy protester who was charged with assaulting a police officer after an incident the night of March 17, 2012, was sentenced to 90 days in prison minus time served and five years probation on Monday. The courtroom inside the Criminal Courts Building was at capacity when ANIMAL arrived this…
