Once I killed a man
oh please, do not be shocked
he used to choke me till I was blue,
then he would stop.
Oh yes, we were happily married,
or so the story went.
I told the cops what happened,
and to prison I was sent.
No, the judge didn’t want to hear it,
and as the jury knew
he was a man just like them;
I guess they too were through.
Oh, I testified to make new laws
to protect women in this state,
but tho those rules are now in books
for me it was too late.
They said to ask the Governor
for mercy on my case.
I did indeed, and six years later
no answer to my fate.
I filed papers properly,
as the court requests,
to gain a second look
at whether my conviction should rest.
I argued with the best of them,
oh how amused they seemed to be
but always found a reason
not to set me free.
I’ve been locked up ten years now;
I guess I should have learned
not to bother with a system
where the wheels of justice seldom turn.
Christy Marie Camp, Valley State Prison
Poetic Justice
