"Why not?" . . ."

Magnolia blooms @ Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Westchester County, New York

. . . choose a lonely soul from PrisonPenPals.com and agree to be a friend who will write often and who will value his thoughts and opinions? On February 15, 2010, at 6:00 PM, I printed out the ad from a 37-year-old man convicted of and incarcerated for robbery, rape and assault. He was searching for "a friend or a special someone" with whom he could share his "dreams, hopes, fears, and goals." Most compelling, to my own lonely heart, was that he has no family or friends who keep in touch with him, and that he feels alone and hopeless.

I wrote to him on March 2, 2010, offering no more than friendship, but promising "to write often and to value your thoughts and opinions." I confessed that "I also have no family and friends, and even though I'm 'on the outside' I struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation. My life didn't start out like this, but, through a 'series of unfortunate events,' it's ended up like this -- and I don't have much hope of things ever changing . . ."

His response came a couple of weeks later, and we've had a nice exchange of letters since. He's sensitive, creative (writes poetry), introspective, and has had a hell of a life, which makes for interesting, but also troubling and devastating, discussions. He has become my muse, inspiring me to write again, after more than a year of withdrawal from regular attempts at creativity. In fact, finally committing to working through A Writer's Book of Days is wholly a result of my correspondence with him.