I’m in this cage;
everyday a fight like Ruben Carter. Although confined,
got a mind just like a Rhode Scholar. Sentenced to time
I use my time to set my soul free.
If ignorance is prison, ain’t a cell that’s gone hold me.
Try to control me
and dictate my every move. Killing my spirit, soul, body with this prison food.
No body needs no body was a lie to me.
Steel sharpen steel
so we build thru camaraderie.
Only if the caged bird
would contemplate his situation; but he can’t think
for the rec. and miseducation.
Can’t see the forest
for the tree that done fell on me; disenfranchised by society and felonies.
Beyond the wall
life is moving on without me there.
Wonder if Mike was stuck in prison singing “I’ll Be There”?
Wonder can life be lived in prison though it’s heartless there?
Can roses grow thru cracks in the concrete though it’s darkness there?
It’s just a seed,
and I see plenty planted in prison yards. Should be in college,
but his knowledge come from prison bars.
And all his stripes, street creds, tats, and prison scars can’t help him in society where civilized people are.
Consider a decade
as a convict an occupation. Imagine trying to parent kids from the visitation.
Imagine life on a hamster’s wheel; suspended animation,
and all your hopes and dreams deferred due to the time you’re wasting.
Can’t go back
the only way out the fire is thru the flames.
So we find ourselves
at the cross-roads confronted with change.
Envision life as a young convict that’s getting old.
Envision life — serving life, and never going home.
Waking up in a cold sweat; as if it’s a nightmare,
but the cold hard steel
of a prison bunk says you’re still there.
Never been violated
till subject to a strip search.
13th-Amendment modern day slave, and the whip hurts.
Hostile environments where violence is prevalent.
Prison is a breeding ground for predatory malevolence.
Behind the wall or barbed wire it’s the same thang.
Male or female, STATE or FED it’s the same game.
But I won’t break;
I’m a warrior so I hold my head. Survival instinct in my soul burning fire red.
Just trying to maintain
and pray to GOD we make it out. This prison life ain’t nothing nice it make you wanna shout.
I feel like Marvin
when he asked the world “What’s Going On”.
Living my life
like the lyrics to a “PRISON SONG”.
— Lorenzo S.