Prose-poem by Cathee, performed at the Vines Festival in Vancouver, 2022

I’m confused now.  Fortunate entry into unfortunate times makes beauty seen everywhere but in a dream.  The dream of being in the outside, outside of the normal, inside of the city outside myself is…too many directions.  Side to side if time permits.  Up and down?  Never.

Serotonin, Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are my shoes…allowing me to walk…albeit with a lot of ripping oozing blisters

I’m nervous now.  Nervous to know,  what will i say, sound like, behave as…who am I other than the inmate, the criminal who did things in places and times…of being another entity?  Will I get fired, lose friends, make the paper while not being safer than inside the walls of prison violence, shame, and cloistered control? …. see more