Life Lines

By Life Lines Collective

Life Lines is an audio journal of poetry, spoken word, and other creative writing by men on Death Row, USA. Contributors live on Death Rows in North Carolina and Tennessee.

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FAQs about Life Lines:

How many episodes does Life Lines have?

The podcast currently has 130 episodes available.

Life Lines episodes:

April 09, 2017 Highrise, part one
While most kids my age were thinking about prom or driver’s ed., I was getting an altogether different education as a ward of the state.
Part one of a two-part story. Listen to part two here.
...more
7min
April 02, 2017 #31 They took my baby away
I remember holding you in my arms
You made cooing sounds
And I wanted to know exactly what each one meant
Written in response to The Underground Railroad (public library) by Colson Whitehead.
...more
2min
April 02, 2017 They took my baby away
I remember holding you in my arms
You made cooing sounds
And I wanted to know exactly what each one meant
Written in response to The Underground Railroad (public library) by Colson Whitehead.
...more
2min
April 02, 2017 They took my baby away: commentary on Colson Whitehead’s book, The Underground Railroad
I remember holding you in my arms
You made cooing sounds
And I wanted to know exactly what each one meant
...more
2min
March 26, 2017 #30 Disquieted
Dad had been taken captive in Korea by an army of enemy voices in his head
~
Warning: this piece includes descriptions of domestic violence and generational trauma.
...more
3min
March 26, 2017 Disquieted
Dad had been taken captive in Korea by an army of enemy voices in his head
~
Warning: this piece includes descriptions of domestic violence and generational trauma.
...more
3min
March 19, 2017 #29 The wind
Sit alone long enough and see where your mind will be
...more
1min
March 19, 2017 The wind
Sit alone long enough and see where your mind will be
...more
1min
March 12, 2017 #28 Pantoum of the forgotten prisoner
They punish mental illness as if it’s our sin

for Michael Anthony Kerr (1960-2014)
Nobody cares if you die in this hole.
They put you here for a reason,
devoid of warmth and sympathy, yet full of need
a drop in the bucket, time to move on.
After all, they put us here to suffer,
banished to a closet where moths eat our existence
a drop in the bucket in an unacknowledged history
Hang them, shoot them, break them on the wheel.
Only human beings are broken and banished with righteousness
Punish the weak for the darkness in man’s heart
Break them, bury them, hang morality by the gate.
Meaningless platitudes cannot penetrate the depths of this hole.
They punish mental illness as if it’s our sin,
so I laughed, screamed in rage. They starved me.
Because there is no mercy in the hole, I was full of need
and they said, “He does it on purpose.”
In my grief, I wept, screamed, and pined for my children
for my two lost sons, full of need, they left me in my weakness.
So I flooded the hole to bring them back.
To the legion of lost sons, to the cohort of the damned:
They would disappear our suffering if they could,
bring them back so we could say,
“Listen. Listen to our stories. Help us.”
They could not disappear my loss.
Instead, they turned off the water to spite me.
I said, “Listen. Please help.”
“Are you thirsty, Mr. Kerr?” So I tapped and banged.
They brought handcuffs to the hole in spite of me.
They chained me to the bunk.
“Are you hungry, Mr. Kerr?” So I cursed and spat.
“Listen. Please.” Chained, hungry, thirsty, full of need,
nobody cared if I sat in my filth.
“Please.” Nobody cared that I lay dying.
Cloaked in filth, hidden from the world, my sons came,
cold and bright, full of need, shining from beyond. I took their hands.
Nobody cares if you die in this hole.
...more
3min
March 12, 2017 Pantoum of the forgotten prisoner
They punish mental illness as if it’s our sin

for Michael Anthony Kerr (1960-2014)
Nobody cares if you die in this hole.
They put you here for a reason,
devoid of warmth and sympathy, yet full of need
a drop in the bucket, time to move on.
After all, they put us here to suffer,
banished to a closet where moths eat our existence
a drop in the bucket in an unacknowledged history
Hang them, shoot them, break them on the wheel.
Only human beings are broken and banished with righteousness
Punish the weak for the darkness in man’s heart
Break them, bury them, hang morality by the gate.
Meaningless platitudes cannot penetrate the depths of this hole.
They punish mental illness as if it’s our sin,
so I laughed, screamed in rage. They starved me.
Because there is no mercy in the hole, I was full of need
and they said, “He does it on purpose.”
In my grief, I wept, screamed, and pined for my children
for my two lost sons, full of need, they left me in my weakness.
So I flooded the hole to bring them back.
To the legion of lost sons, to the cohort of the damned:
They would disappear our suffering if they could,
bring them back so we could say,
“Listen. Listen to our stories. Help us.”
They could not disappear my loss.
Instead, they turned off the water to spite me.
I said, “Listen. Please help.”
“Are you thirsty, Mr. Kerr?” So I tapped and banged.
They brought handcuffs to the hole in spite of me.
They chained me to the bunk.
“Are you hungry, Mr. Kerr?” So I cursed and spat.
“Listen. Please.” Chained, hungry, thirsty, full of need,
nobody cared if I sat in my filth.
“Please.” Nobody cared that I lay dying.
Cloaked in filth, hidden from the world, my sons came,
cold and bright, full of need, shining from beyond. I took their hands.
Nobody cares if you die in this hole.
...more
3min

FAQs about Life Lines:

How many episodes does Life Lines have?

The podcast currently has 130 episodes available.