The halls of detention
are where I come to pray.
Ushered through double locking doors
only adornment concrete walls
occasional sunlight streams
through unstained glass
a choir of guards
teachers and counselors
singing hymnals of order and rules.
The devout – lines of children
arms behind their back
shuffling in plastic shoes
I kneel in the suffering of children
prostrated in their reality.
I can’t explain easily to others
why I come here
the children are my priests
freeing me from the shackles of myself.
They don’t know
how they change me
one moment at a time
how they snap me back
into what matters.
And so I come here week after week
and hope that my prayers
are answered.

– Dedicated to the kids in King County Juvenile Detention that I have had the privilege to write poetry with.