Political Prisoners USA and Other Poems

Author: James Madigan Publisher: Broadstone Books (2025) Political Prisoners USA and Other Poems by James Madigan is a necessary debut that draws on expansive public and private experiences to create a lamentation for racial and social inequality. The poems are daring and direct, igniting consciousness and conscience. Madigan recognizes divisions, the fissures in our humanity, and often, the injustices we manifest. Smooth and intimately detailed, this writing calls the reader to action. “Look to the person next to you. Look them in the eye and say:/I will be there with you—.” The reader can count on a reliable speaker, a poet with a vision, and a mission. “Political Prisoners USA: A poem in five parts,” is the narrative thread that intermittently snaps the reader out of disappearing entirely into reflection. His correspondences with political prisoners creates a dose of reality, a sharp pain in the reader’s side: persecution and incarceration exist. The language Madigan uses in the fac