Freedom!

I walk to freedom!
The warm embrace of loved ones/
a bear’s waiting maw.

Radial cell block at Abashiri Prison Museum, Hokkaido.

Brimstone

We call this place hell.
Brimstone scours our blackened souls –
nature not benign.

Mount Io, Teshikaga, Hokkaido. Prison labour was used extensively in sulphur mining in the region.