After agreeing to conduct five poetry writing workshops, each two hours long, for 10 inmates at the Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) at Selarang, there was a moment of panic: What if the poems I was planning to share were too difficult? What if the students, in jail for drug-related offences, were bored or disengaged?

Yes, it is a meaningful project, helping participants find their own voice through poetry, coaxing them to share their writings with loved ones and with the public at a Yellow Ribbon art exhibition targeted at the end of the year.