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Demetrius Buckley

My Background

Demetrius “Meech” Buckley has earned multiple writing honors, including a 2024 Editor’s Choice Award in CRAFT literary magazine’s Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest and the 2021 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook prize. He was a finalist for the 2024 Rattle Poetry Prize. Buckley’s work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Yale Review, The Boulevard, The Rumpus, PRISM, The Progressive and ResentencingNow, among other outlets. He has performed his work at the Brooklyn Museum. Buckley is also an editor for Apogee literary magazine’s Freedom Meridian, and he works with Look2Justice and Empowerment Avenue. He is serving a 20- to 30-year sentence for second-degree murder.

An illustration shows a silhouette of an individual standing in the middle of their prison cell, with a fan, a cabinet and a chair on the left side and a bed on the right side. Orange waves permeate through the room to indicate heat.
Life Inside July 15, 2022
My Prison Gets So Hot, the Floors Sweat
Survival tips include, “Wait it out” and “Buy another fan, bro.”
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An illustration shows a black school bus driving through a light blue lake with bare trees and bushes. Five smaller panels at the edge of the illustration suggest an incarcerated person is traveling, showing a nasal swab test, a bag, shackles, an eye and handcuffs.
Life Inside May 13, 2022
I Got the Prison Transfer I Fought For. My Feelings Were Surprisingly Mixed
Demetrius Buckley’s long-awaited transfer to a lower-security prison means more time outside of his cell and a chance to see his daughter. But the transport process was like everything else in prison: slow, confusing and casually cruel.
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An illustration showcases Demetrius Buckley, who is currently incarcerated, in an orange prison suit and holding onto a phone. He looks through a window at his daughter, who is sitting alone in a park.
Life Inside March 11, 2022
The Powerlessness of Parenting From Prison
Demetrius Buckley thought his bond with his 11-year-old daughter was strong. But when he couldn’t physically protect his child from adult problems, he learned the limits of parenting via prison phone calls.
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Life Inside January 28, 2022
I’m Having a Cancer Scare. But Prison Healthcare Is So Degrading, I’ve Quit Seeking Answers.
“Not knowing what is going on with my body will catch up to me, but I refuse to be treated inappropriately.”
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Life Inside December 16, 2021
Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared.
A software change in my prison-issued electronic tablet ate up my drafts and eliminated basic writing tools. That may sound minor, but try sending a poem to your kid without line breaks.
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Life Inside July 1, 2021
“Daddy, if I Come See You, Will I Have to Be Locked up, Too?”
Recently reunited with his 10-year-old daughter, Demetrius Buckley struggles to push past the barriers of a maximum security prison to be present for his curious, whip-smart little girl.
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Life Inside March 11, 2021
My Neighbor Sexually Harasses a Female Nurse. Eventually I’d Had Enough
“I want to tell her I’m sorry for what he did, but I’m an inmate and she’s part of the administration.”
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Life Inside January 21, 2021
When a Shower Counts as a Privilege, You Have to Get Creative
Doing time during a pandemic can mean fighting for your turn to wash your body or call your family. Inside one man’s battle with an inaudible loudspeaker, weary guards and a dysfunctional process.
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Life Inside August 29, 2019
In My Prison, Summer is “Ticket Season”
“If you move the wrong way—ticket. You look the wrong way—ticket. Breathe—ticket.”
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