WHAT PRISON CHANGES // ACE BOGGESS
When I went in, women I knew were cat people;
at my release, each of them owned a dog.
Before: video stores—a Blockbuster on every corner.
After: silent films among empty shelves.
As the deputy clasped shackles on my wrists,
I had a wife, a house, a city. No one
would publish my books without a rap sheet;
now, my list of crimes earns invitations.
I can’t get over the thing about cats & dogs.
The best friend of my best friend remains an enemy.
What happened to all the cats?
In five years, in that interim, an extinction.
Ace Boggess is author of eight books of poetry, most recently Tell Us How to Live (Fernwood Press, 2025), and the short-story collection Always One Mistake (Running Wild Press, 2026). His writing has appeared in Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Hanging Loose, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes, watches Criterion films, and tries to stay out of trouble.