Silently I sit by
watching men pace their cells
biting their nails
with furrow brows
Smoking cigarettes
or weed
thinkin’ ’bout the future
or their time
Drinking’ a Pepsi
or some Hooch
provided by a storeman
in another block
C/O’s on their rounds
janglin’ their keys
whistling a tune
through gapped teeth
Chewin’ Red Man
in clenched jaws
A ball cap on their heads
Two men
their worlds collide
one with his mouth
the other with a shank
Cussin’ by one
cuttin by the other
One ends up dead
the other in the SHU
— Johnny L.