you have letters,
but I have numbers after my name
I have all the experience
to which your “expertise” claims
you can only express definitions
Inside
If a Prisoner was a Politician
I recently heard a prisoner say,
“we invest in weapons of mass destruction
but not in the uplifting
of the lowest class of people”
slightly paraphrased
so the message can be clear
now reflect
…
has war-
its potential
and preparation-
become our sole identity?
what are we defending against
when we are mostly defending a fence
built to keep some out
and some in-
whether borders
or prisons-
or destroy those
with different worldviews
billions of dollars in aid given
to those unable to defend themselves
but America, I say to you
what about us
where is the investment in us
a handout, is not an investment
it is a crippling
it creates stagnation
and resentment
with the allusion and benefit
of rewarded ineptitude
creating competing class views
detaching the masses from the few
so the weapons of mass destruction
are really the lack of investment
in our urban locations,
schools, teachers,
jobs, women, and youth
I know I am, but so are You
institutionalization
is conformity
systems indoctrinate institutions
institutions administer people
systems classify organizations and organisms
people are organisms
people create organizations
people are products of systems
society is a system
prison is a system
just in case my intentions aren’t clear
society, you are institutionalized too
and I’m the prisoner
you seek to reform and adjust
from my imprisoned institutionalization
to cohabit an environment
and be blindly institutionalized like you
but if you can’t recognize it
maybe I should be less like you
instead of seen as
less than you
because clearly
at least one of us
as a more realistic
and developed, point of view
so, I know I am
but if you don’t realize that you are
then what are you?
Even in Prison there is a Circle of Life
I watch fat birds
flying free
in my misery
getting full
from food
we refuse to eat
our neglect feeds
life is complete
even prisoners
give life
when it’s only death
that we see
What’s Being Learned From and Who is Considered the Learned?
I heard from a fellow convict:
“history is about knowing and understanding what happened, why it happened, so it won’t be repeated”
this is how life is built on
so there can be lesson in avoiding it
yet a poignant one in being so steeped in it
but all I see is it being a point of judgment
instead of wise instructions
and the prevailing discernment
but when I learn from mine
you still seem set on defining me by it
while avoiding your own
and that of the world’s
I strongly question what you assert as wisdom
Mundane Reflections, Still Learning
a black man walks into a stall in prison to urinate, he closes his eyes and detaches as much as he can without error and misfortune, he opens his eyes upon completion, and two white men are on either side of him doing the same thing, his reaction imperceivable, but it was a reaction nevertheless…what is the error of his consciousness?
in this moment he has lost sight of his self because he has lost sight of them, why did he see color and not God?
this story is me…for life is a constant unfolding of reclaiming one’s liberation
a lesson in all but the best lessons
are the lessons of, and seen in self