What is it like to have a loved one on death row?In What I Wish for You, Kat Bodrie offers an intimate portrait of friendship, hope, and endurance from years of corresponding with and visiting men living on North Carolina's death row. Moving from prison visitation booths and solitary confinement to ordinary suburban life, these poems reveal how love, grief, humor, injustice, and beauty exist all at once.Never preachy or sensational, What I Wish for You explores what it means to witness another person's suffering without turning away. These poems do not excuse harm. They meditate on mercy, relationships, and the dignity that survives even under a system built to erase it. Deeply personal and urgently relevant, this collection is about seeing the person behind the sentence—and discovering that compassion may be the most radical act of all.
