Going Public

I carry them with me now as I make my way across campus to a modest afterthought of a structure called the Transitional Office Building. It is so plain and dumpy that no one knows where it is until something like a conference is scheduled there. My conference is on the prison writing workshops, and I am due to present in a little over an hour. My steps are deliberate, and I have to avoid puddles on this rainy Thursday. The men I carry with me are depending on me to bear witness to the magic of the writing workshops. I feel the weight and ask them for help in carrying the load. They say stay true to the course. Don't lapse or hide or take an easy path. Tell it like it is. Bring our words with you. This is it, the moment, the one you have been waiting for. Deliver the word. Stand in the truth of what you have seen, the urgency to offer that to a listening body. Trust that the words will find a way, they say.