Art from the Inside
from the Prisoner Correspondence Project
by Carlos Castaneda
As part of the SHIFT Journal's poetry month October 2025, we're excited to be sharing a selection of art and poetry from members of the Prisoner Correspondence Project.
The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a Montreal-based solidarity project for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer prisoners in Canada and the United States, linking them with people a part of these same communities outside of prison.
The Prisoner Correspondence Project has a membership of more than 4500 LGBTQ2S+ prisoners across Canada and the US. Every week, they receive dozens of letters from people seeking connection, community, and someone to talk to. Their penpal program facilitates one-on-one correspondences between these prisoners and comrades outside of prison–long-term relationships based on solidarity and shared struggle.
The Prisoner Correspondence Project believes that the best way to fight the expansion of prisons and to reach towards a future of queer liberation is through the leadership of those whose lives, families and communities have been impacted most by systems of incarceration. Their goal is to provide prisoners, who are systematically silenced, with opportunities for self-representation.
You can find out more about PCP and make a donation here.
Struggling with Existence
3:37 AM
The brickz are speaking 2 me
It seemz failure materialize outta thin air.
The more I try, the more I fall down
So tonight I out my fear away,
Leting go of my breathe
That waz never given 2 me
Blood rain down my arm causing me 2 be memorized by the fire
Authortiez tried 2 help, but I became more rebellious to their homophobia eyes.
Against time, the colorz we’re a disguise
My mask of shame they’re patronizing mindz encourage me 2 let go,
Causing me to powerdown cry out the emotional pain
Story to the many facez of this world, who haz given up,
Due 2 hard timez, struggling w/ they’re identitiez, and existence to live.
Itz going to alright. You were me, and I am you.
Your not along, and everyday I will listen 2 you heart.
Keep yo’ head wear the starz be.
- Pieface
Artwork depicting the experience of the justice system, reading "Guilty until proven guiltier: the plight of the innocent in today's criminal INjustice system". By Michael Phillips
Trans
Transculent and transparent-opened for all to see.
Exposed to the world, hiding nothing that defines me.
A kaleidoscope of life’s colors, a prism of life’s glow.
A spectrum of the imagination, a dazzling and beautiful rainbow.
Transferred-the guilt with which you desire to define,
My spark, which love ignites; My spirit that’s so devine.
A bellweather of inspiration, a trendsetter by design,
A renewer of hope, an enlightener of the mind.
Transforming-the minds of this transphobic world.
Graceful and dignified, a triumphant message to be herald.
Behold the beauty of a metamorphic change open for all to see,
Uncaged, unchained, uninhibited, unbound by acceptance of me.
Transporting-the hearts, eliminating the stereotypes.
A warrior for the inclusion, refusing to yielf the fight.
Lifting the veils for discrimination, obliterating the disgraceful stains.
No longer tied to the shadows, but proud to be called Transgender by name.
- Eboney Delaney
You Can't Imagine
(letter to a past me)
Can you imagine a world made of concrete and steel,
Where humans bet on the next to be killed?
Can you imagine the sounds of madness, and its screams,
Where no one cares, much less, intervenes?
Can you imagine being lost, and forgotten?
Where saying, "Out of sight, out of mindft is common, and heard often?
Can you imagine seeing raw hate
Over the color of ones skin, or the complexion of ones face?
Can you imagine being truly alone,
Where no one loves you, and there's no where to call home?
Can you imagine being conditioned in a way
That you ignore others being hurt; where you're programmed to stay out of their way?
Can you imagine a place where the time stands still
Yet the clock continues to tick on, year after year?
Can you imagine a planet where kindness is perceived
As a weakness, and exploited for another's gain?
Can you imagine being so numb, and dull
That you test the limits of physical pain?
Can you imagine a place where the marais of conduct no longer apply
And most will stay there until they die?
Can you imagine being the remnant of a distant mernory
Where you're left out of your family's history?
Can you imagine your staries going untold
As your child begins to grow old?
Can you imagine being surrounded by dust and mold
While wiping your nose as it drips from your tears and the cold?
And, as you sit within the walls of your tomb
And the depression starts to loom
While that guilt continues to consume you,
And these memories inside follow you to bed,
Your imagination endorses the war that goes on inslde your head ...
Can you imagine a weapon made of ink and tears,
Where your pen produœs sentences in an attempt to neutralize your fears?
Try to imagine that pen as an instrument of peaœ,
lmmersed within the pressure, searching for any release.
Now, awake from that dream, and KNOW that place is REAL.
You should NEVER assume you've won at life's cheap thrills!
See, when you think you have won, you've really lost.
Because, in that world, the gain is hardly ever worth the cost.
- James Arthur
A black and white pencil portrait and accompanying poem. By Mike
Trans
The worst feeling to have in prison
Steals all others like a thief
taking loved ones away in a second
this terrible feeling is grief
It steals your body away from you
leaves you feeling alone and afraid
losing everything that you've become
All successes you've ever made
Helpless, hopeless lost and numb
Always come side by side
But grief brings all these feelings
finding out a loved one has died
Losing my papa Dad and Brother
Then Nana and so many more
Grief has stricken me so many times
leaving me broken on the floor
Grief can be overcome though
with tenacity and strength
No matter how bad it may seem
With help I went to so many lengths
- Jeremy Rutherford
Artwork reading "Family, Unity, and Pride". By Pappa.
