Category Archives: ezwwaters

“Life Sentence”

Posted on March 26, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In my post, “The Anatomy of Advocacy – In High Heels,” I mentioned how the successful advocacy of the Ad Hoc Committee on Lifetime Parole was a much longer, untold story.  This is another part of the story. In addition … Continue reading →

Posted in being a teenager, crime, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, juveniles, Lest We Forget, Life Sentences, Murder, Parole, parole board, Politics, race, raising black boys, Reentry, remorse, Streets of Rage, urban decay, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Prison Portal

Posted on March 23, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Poets are on a quest to find a word that is worth a thousand pictures.  I don’t know if there’s a poetry gene, but there’s connective tissue joining poets.  Even before I know a writer is a poet – a … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Poetry, Reentry, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’m Driving as Fast as I Can

Posted on March 22, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Bell Gayle Chevigny is another woman I met through my work with PEN America Center’s Prison Writing Program (PWP).  She is also the editor of Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing, an anthology of some of the best writing … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Life Sentences, Murder, Parole, Poetry, Politics, race, raising black boys, Reentry, Relationships, remorse | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Poets Are Revolutionaries: Drop Poetry, Not Bombs!

Posted on March 21, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Poets, at heart, are revolutionaries.  In addition to being incurable romantics, they are idealists.  Even in their poetry, they seek the ideal.  They are always in search of the ideal. I also met Susan Rosenberg through my work with PEN … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Poetry, Reentry, remorse, Revolution, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Poets, Prison Writing, and Pantoums

Posted on March 20, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Poets feel deeply, oftentimes too deeply. Sometimes they’re overwhelmed by their feelings. Poets are incurable Romantics. They love Love. They’re always on a quest to find Love. Poets are human, deeply human, as human as can be, with all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Portrait of an Artist as a Woman

Posted on March 19, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Artists have an antenna, a radar of sorts, where we can detect another artist in our midst.  It’s a look in and from their eyes, as if they aren’t there, while at the same time being everywhere.  I know, because … Continue reading →

Posted in ezwwaters, Lest We Forget, Poetry, Sonny's Blues | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Dead Can’t Bury the Dead!

Posted on March 18, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In Shakespeare love often happens in the context of a tragedy: Hamlet and Ophelia in Hamlet; Romeo and Juliet in the play of the same name; Othello the Moor and Desdemona in Othello; Aaron the Moor and Tamora, Queen of … Continue reading →

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My Pandora

Posted on March 15, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Hope remains! (Disclaimer: Ladies, women, womenfolk, and girls, I know that a man wrote the myth about Pandora, blaming women, as the writer of the Hebrew Bible also blamed a woman, Eve, for all the evils let loose in the … Continue reading →

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Fiat justitia ruat caelum

Posted on March 13, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Today I get to uplift an advocate and an author, Claudette Nurse. I have not met a person more passionate about justice than Claudette. (She causes “good trouble.”) She is an attorney. She worked for the Legal Aid Society, in … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, ezwwaters, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Life Sentences, Murder, Parole, Politics, Reentry, remorse | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Pearl Comes to Brooklyn

Posted on March 12, 2022 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The past month and nearly two weeks I’ve been writing a blog post every day.  When I am in writing mode my overly active imagination goes into overdrive.  I have eureka moments, and even an epiphany or two! This morning … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, ezwwaters, Family, Fathers, Justice Chronicles, Osborne Association, raising black boys, Reentry | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment