Prison Poems
- Category: Poems
- Published on 09 July 2013
- Hits: 6715
Art Appreciation 101
Picture prison sex as artBlood, semen, shitSmeared across a canvas of degradation Rape slaves are sold for cigarettesTrapped in their chains of weaknessTheir failing manhoodHidden behind homemade hotpants& shaved skinny legsIsn’t it easy to fall in love?
Suppose it’s madness that drives atrocityEvery man is begotten by his fatherEvery man’s father is CainDo men do unto themselves?What man wishes to be an animal?Cages breed animals
Beaten, bloody, deadFor words – gesturesCasual bumps & glancesKnives flash, crimes of passionKnife wounds & screamsNightmares & fear& a coward who fails to overcome his fear The easiest way to appear strongIs to exploit the weak
Still life
Sunday morning in Cell-Block OneI can feel the oppressionWhen the cellhouse grows quiet& only state-issued brogansSend their lonely little messagesTo those who are not listeningLittle messages aimed at no one& nowhere... Down the hall –Where the television echoes nothingAt all the stone walls and stone facesOf all the nobodiesAs they dream their little gray dreamsOf all that has been wasted We are a living still lifeBut ... it’s still lifeTo meBecause of a technocolor dreamOf twoYou & I were they It reminded me of opiumThat dreamI remember wellA dream from heavenI will tellThough dreamt here in this pit of hell There were dreamy kisses at midnightI remember the flavor of moonlight on your lipsThe feel of the leather skirt that hugged your hipsWhen our lips met I knew the rapture of a feather’s fallIn that kiss – I knew it all With that brush of a butterfly wingI came to know everythingThe dulcet melody in the song of birds –To the painful inadequacy of human wordsSome things are better left unsaid –You said
Going under for the last time
HappinessIt can befoolJust a shallow poolWe may call tomorrow & SadnessThat’s a deep emotionDeep as any oceanAnchor lines of memoriesHold us fast – in the past Murky depthsHidden obstaclesRopes & chains that snag & pullHold me under to drown Just below the surface of todayThe NOW That hateful hurtful NOWThat I see only while gulping airGasping & chokingAs the memoriesTry to pull me underChoke me with the clarity of hindsight I go under againI would rather drownThan see the NOW Black flowerLook inside the dark blossom
Of the black flower of civilized society
That Hawthorne wrote about so long ago
That's what you'll find me
The vilest seeds of poison deeds
Get planted in prison's lair
And what is sterling in a man
Is what tarnishes there
Guns and guards, they watch the gate
My warden is despair
I'll break down the gate with my burning hate
And get away from here
Then, where there's guns and blood
Bullets flying through the air
Look behind the telescopic sight
And you'll find me there
Where a crack smoking mom is trying to beat and break her vice
Or a hungry new born baby cries
Look into their beseeching eyes
And you'll find me there
Where a man rises up to fight against tyranny
In a battle to stay free
Look behind the barricade
And that's where you'll find me
Where a man fights and dies
--- the world is not fair ---
Look into his cold dead eyes
You'll surely find me there.
The nose knows
Though its usually the vilest seeds of poison deeds
That get planted in prison's lair
There is a different variety of seed
That may too get planted there
While the stench of the Black Flower
Clings to those who dwell
Within the fenced in confines
Of this State-owned hell
There are some who see it not
Nor even catch a whiff
And you my Dawg, are one of these
Diane.....if -- if only if.....
We're not here just to wag our tails
Your pedigree is far better
And though I happen to be on a short leash
You ignore the fetter
Real gifts:
Kindness and care.....
And simple understanding.....
These are the different variety of seeds
That you've been busy planting.
I came -- I saw -- I conquered
The mirror breaks
Shattered self
Glass cuts
Like nothing else
Blood and tears reflect my strife
And I am turning cold
My tortured life's an evil wife
I have to have and hold
Married to myself again
I filed for suicide
The courts rejected everything
My motion was denied
No escape
Nowhere to run
I push and shove
And conquer love.....
But no one understands
It's a beautiful morning
Shiny surgical steel honed to the perfection of a razor's edge
Severing veins and tendons below the track marks
Then falling to the cold hard tiles of the bathroom floor
Cold and hard......like living on
The source of this end to a means
Lies reflecting all that blood
And brand new sunlight that God keeps throwing
Into your cocaine eye
At 6:00 in the morning on a sunny summer Sunday
The beauty of this day just making you seem so much
Uglier...
Than you really are
Look at your bloody wrist
Through the haze of
Rage tears
Hurt tears
Hate the self tears
In your eyes
And ask yourself...
NO -- not why --
NEVER why...
You ask yourself if you should have tried your neck
This is taking far
Too
Long
And so few stories..... that are true..... have happy endings
Going down for the last time
Happiness
It can befool
Just a shallow pool
We may call tomorrow
Sadness
That's a deep emotion
Deep as any ocean
Anchor lines of memories
Hold me fast -- In the past
Murky depths
Hidden obstacles
Ropes and chains that snag and pull
Hold me under to drown
Just below the surface of.......Today .....The NOW
That hateful, hurtful now
That I see only while gulping air
Gasping and choking
As the memories try to pull me under
Choke me with the clarity of hindsight
I go under again
I would rather drown
Than see TODAY
In God's image
Feel these mortal wounds -- I sigh
Forgiveness in the suicide
On the threshold of a world untried
Throw away my pain and pride
I am now my own saviour
With my sharp razor
It's cold and hard and shows no favour
It isn't flinching from forever
On my knees -- it's now or never
I kneel to pray to - sweet - god - Razorblade
Look at me -- I'm in god's image
Reflected by the shiny blade
Where viscous drops of blood now glisten
Suck my soul father Gillette ----My new god
I'm still here on my knees
As my head begins to nod
I hear my Father's pleas
Remember son, remember
The ego's oh so tender
None can look upon my face and live
Embrace my face that won't forgive
Bleed, just to bleed
Like leeches shrivel
When they die
You light up my life
On the horizon I spied a spark
A tiny glimmer in the dark
On my horizon there was a gleam
I was black -- thus unseen by you
But I was on your horizon
Too!
The calendar marked some time
You were so far
A small pin-prick of light
.....A distant star
It made me phosphorescent
A reciprocal light of my own
That glared at my dark resentment
I saw you in periphery
From the corner of my eye
You'd grown so large......
Now -- a firefly!
A few years passed --
Of those I have no lack
I glanced again and was blinded by
The burning flash of your lightening's crack.....
A burst of light
That was so bright
It illuminated forever my perpetual night
To see you close
You getting near
I don't know why.....
It caused me fear
'Cause you were there and I'd always be HERE?
Spoken words know but a moment's life
And then they're gone again --
So I choose to speak to you
With my pen.....
I love you as I've never loved before
Everything you do is always good
You're beautiful beyond compare
You have an inner beauty
And strength
That rivals Joan of Arc
Industrious and tenacity
The ability to truly SEE
A huge capacity for sympathy
I hold your friendship oh so dear
My pen has spoken so that you might hear
I love you Diane
.....And everything about you
I hope I've made it clear.
God created the world --- then she let me be her friend
It's quite uncommon I suppose
For the gods in their repose
To allow us mortals to get close
To their station up above
Us mortals call this closeness -- Love
It's impossible for my soul
To store immense emotion untold
Within my meagre little heart
It's force would rip my heart apart
The ant can't see the mountain
But by your fortuitous gift
Of closeness
You did shift
The examen on which my world sits
And now I'm able to see the stars
I could write eternally
Of the ways of things I see
But then the duty of the prose
Would go derelict and cease more to disclose
So, I will leave it here
With just a few more words to make it clear
I pray that as you read you find
Within the metre of this rhyme
That for me your friendship is sublime
That I do not worship an unseen and unheard god
That my Goddess is in all that I do
That my goddess Diane -- is you
It's you and me baby -- a pondering
I was in prison and ye came unto me,
Let patience have her perfect work.
Maybe you're all I need
to comfort me when the nightmares come
Like a devil caught up in maelstrom
I'm a dust devil in the wind...
You're my driving force
Are you my gale force sin?
I'll find my answers, but only when
I'm in your arms, wrapped so tight
When I come unraveled in the night
When I need to run and cannot hide
When I find you there whenever I....
Whenever I Scream...
Because of you
Joe R. Hopkins