Friendship, Fellowship, & Brotherhood, the building blocks that transform a stranger to a member of the family. The bonds built stronger than a holiday card or obligatory meal. These become the strings to your heart that are proven time and time again. The late night of drinking to process the loss of another love, the silent consideration of pain that words do not define. These are the people who see the need and fill it, without you asking, these are the people who roof your mother’s house because you’re in jail. These brothers do not forget you, do not forsake you. The difference between friendship and brotherhood is the sacrifice, the need which your love binds. For my friends, I would dare much for my brothers, I would dare anything.
— Jacob William Harper-Leonard, Fraternal Love
Our fellow writer and friend Jacob William Harper-Leonard died April 2, 2026. An original member of the PonyXpress group at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Jacob carried sunlight with him — even on the coldest evenings. Danny described his reading style as Linus-like (think of the recitation of the Christmas story from the Charlie Brown special.) Jacob was kind, enthusiastic about writing, gentle with his colleagues. The landscape of the Pacific Northwest filled him with the steady constitution of the farmer-loggers who came before him. In one of our last meetings, he told a story about building a split-log fence on his grandfather’s land. As he described the feeling of that work, he created pictures of a young man finding his way through the back-breaking effort.
There is a deceptive ease to Jacob’s writing voice, as if it all just flowed effortlessly from his pen. We know that the work of writing, like the labor of splitting wood requires practice and hard work. We have collected the writing published on the PonyXpress below. We are fortunate to have audio recordings attached to a few piece. Enjoy listening to Jacob’s distinctive voice.
Two of his fellow writers submitted lovely tributes: Phillip Luna’s A Man with A Pen and Walter Thomas’s Jake.
I promise you that you want to read them. And so we open “Near and Far” our tenth issue of the PonyXpress with a gentle reminder to draw your friends near, especially the ones who seem far away. | TDS & DJW
JACOB WILLIAM HARPER-LEONARD PONYXPRESS COLLECTION
