Sean Wilsey reads a diary entry by Dennis Forrest, a prisoner in the Ramsey Unit in Rosharon, Texas, at the 2009 event Breakout: Voices from Inside. Read the entry below.
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Dennis Forrest
Ramsey Unit
Rosharon, Texas
June 7, 2008
This is a picture of me.
It was taken during the time of day when the sun shines through the living room window creating a glare—so it might be a little blurry around the edges. That’s me right there in the corner behind the Christmas tree. It’s hard to see me—you have to look through the branches, around the decorations and then put the pieces together.
I’m sitting there listening quietly to my sister talk to her imaginary friends who live in our walls (she’s the pretty little redhead right there, in the center of the room). I’ve tried—I can’t hear the voices—but it makes me sick inside knowing she does.
It’s the same sick feeling I get when I see the way our new step-father looks at her after he’s had a few too many.
It’s easier to see me if you pretend the tree’s not there—that’s what I do. You see, this picture was taken the same year I learned there was no Santa Claus.
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