photo by steed media service

For more than half of his life, Kendall Warner has worked on getting himself together. Having been incarcerated for over two decades, he knows a little bit about how much we take for granted. While doing time, Warner developed a flair for poetry and painting. He started designing greeting cards for his fellow inmates and would inscribe personal thoughts into the messages. It was then that he also discovered the amount of illiteracy in the penal system.

"I noticed some of the guys had me write their poems and thoughts, because they couldn't read or write," recalls Warner.painting and writing fiction and poetry. "This alone inspired my interest to continue writing." The 50-year-old artist is now busy promoting his book, Perceptions of Life: Poems from Bondage to Freedom, which is a collection of poems and short stories. He hopes his personal writings will be an inspiration for young people, helping them avoid some of the pitfalls life throws at them.

"There [are] a variety of poems I put together," he says. "Some are from guys who suggested I write them; some are personal thoughts I had. I simply wrote about life."

Through his experiences, Warner has observed that "freedom" is something most people take for granted - like sleeping and eating. But when liberties are taken away and the system mandates when one can sleep and eat, he definitely learns to appreciate freedom.

"What prison showed me is that it's no place to spend your time," he explains. "It made me realize how precious freedom is and to never take it for granted." -tony binns

For more information, contact Warner at warnerkendall@yahoo.com



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