Written for: Poetic Bloomings2 – For Your Consideration: P(l)ay It Forward
Instead of writing a person’s regression in a past life, write the progression (future life) of that character.
Yes, I was caught . . . you might say I was caught up in a web.
I am not saying I was a good girl. Liked my drinks and cigarettes,
hung around with some shady sorts. Put me in a club, baby, and
turn on that jazz or blues. I was electric.
Murder is murder though. Prison was hopelessness, hatefulness, and
harmfulness. Lawyers who believed in me did their best, rest were
indifferent. A woman on death row? Intriguing to your average
citizens, filled with bloodlust themselves, living vicariously
through me.
So, there I sat, clock ticking, last meal served. My nerves
were as taut as guitar strings. Priest did his thing. Phone
did not ring. I don’t want to die. Now, they hold me up
in the hallway for my last walk. Saw the chair. And then,
the phone rang. New evidence. Miracle discovery. I was
free! I had a shiny-penny new chance. I went back to school.
Became a teacher. My students are precious pearls. I met
someone, also a teacher. We are dating, cautiously. I never
want to think of my old life again. I just want to live.
(based on the film, I Want To Live, with Susan Hayward portraying
the life of Barbara Graham, true story.)
