ALONE, BOUND TOGETHER

BY TRACY SCHLAPP

Being 
in a writing group, I dare say it’s impossible to
imagine ever being truly alone.
A connection exists that is evident.
each sentence written, spoken, shared,
become the ties that bind us together in thought and action.

R. Miranda, Am I Alone?

In August of this year, I had my first encounter with Covid and needed to cancel our workshop at Oregon State Penitentiary. I have made the case that those first months of the pandemic gave the broader population a sense of incarceration — social isolation, separation from friends and loved ones, uncertain resources, the counting of time, the stress of staying out of harm’s way, and the trauma of sickness. Three years later, my case of Covid gave me a week of clipped wings and symptoms that could be managed with Tylenol. And while, I was comfortable and safe, I also found that I missed my freedom, even in my own home. And while I enjoyed my time alone, I also missed the week away from our writing group. I sent in the following poems:
Alone by Carl Sandburg
Alone by Philip Levine
Alone for a Week by Jane Kenyon

The writers responded — sometimes borrowing ideas, sometimes borrowing lines. Devere Sanchez wrote: “You were behind me for many years, then it seemed you were gone. I thought that it was a “now you see it, now you don’t” kind of concept. It must have been a more gradual diminishing effect. I think of the concept of loss and the effects it had on me.  Stages of grief for me are changed when I introduce my most consistent coping tool. When I realized you were no longer behind me, it seemed like a good excuse to resume using drugs and running the streets.  My greatest supporter now being behind me brought me here, and although in the moment it was everyone else’s fault, after lots of reflection I realize I have only myself to blame.”

Marcellus Allen II brings us the poem, You Were Behind Me taking Philip Levine’s lines and making them into his own. Similarly, R. Miranda was inspired by Levine’s line “turning to water under a black sky” to write Alone with Night. Yeyin Chin recognizes how heart and mind fill in blank spots to create false meaning. Manny Cid considers illusion and draws different conclusions. And finally, Buddha contemplates duality, the sense of being alone in a crowded room.  

The carceral world is filled with calories but limited nutrition. The exercise of drawing lines from poets and ingesting them by first writing them down, then churning them through one’s own life experience is deeply satisfying. It connects our writers to a tradition filled with solitary individuals who recognized the importance of isolating a form or an idea to see it and then, share it with the world. Even in our isolation, we find ways to be bound to one another. | TDS