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144 Roy
I really love to see Beautiful Sunsets + Sunrises, it’s somethin that I missed being locked away on death Row for almost 30 long years, anyway, when you do see a very special Sunset or Sunrise, THINK OF ME :)
I have the ability to see a Rainbow, when some others are complaining or crying over rain :)

142 Michael
Your love has made me its prisoner.
There is no escape.
But I knew that once I stepped into your life
143 Roy
Find what truely matters, and free yourself from the rest.
Now that’s invincibility.
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see


139 Michael
Do you treasure
the games you play with my heart
Where pleasure
is found in disturbing my thoughts
And pain
is felt as each tear drowns my soul
To blame
myself for making my heart this black hole??
140 Michael
Much of the time
 when life tells me its lies
My heart is inclined
 to believe my eyes



141 Michael
I've tried lying to myself over and over
"If I can just hold on, I will be free..."
But the truth is like a hand constantly slapping my face...
WAKE UP!
OPEN YOUR EYES!
CAN'T YOU SEE!
YOU BELONG TO ME!


137 Michael
My Intent is not to cause you harm
But to arm your mind
that it may quiet the storm
Spewing at me the hate
which you do not understand
Condemning me to a fate
fully removed from God's hand
These constant battles I fight
searching for peace in society
Has me now strapped down at the wrist as poison flows in them to silence me
138 Michael
Honor is Law
Trust is a Code
Love is Bold
Knowledge is Life
Wisdom is the Future
Respect is Strife
Death is a Solution
Peace is Understanding
War is Tradition
Betrayal is a Plague
Greed is a Condition
Suicide is Sin
Survival is an Example
You are a Question
I am the ANSWER

135 Michael
Sometimes I try too hard
Thinking that competing with self will reward
That only the depths of my sould can acknowledge
This is why my determined decision
Seems to appear more and more like a mission
Allowing my growth and development to be something scholastic
While the balance of my life is man made and drastic
There is no one but myself to blame
Because throughout all the pleasure I've searched for the pain
That can bring me closer to only knowing myself
While others don't wish to know about me
Just the means for my death...
136 Michael
Predators have me marked as prey
and prey they do before feasting upon me.
Consuming my fears
while digesting my will
Eliminating any signs of hope my mind can muster
leaving me the empty shell
Pessimism can't even call home
because everything about me is their choosing
No matter how much I decry it as my own




133 Michael
Last night I had a dream
    which seemed both real and true
Of a darkness lit by moonbeams
    that darkness appeared to me as you
A you once filled with misery
    unable to let go of the past
Where friendly faces were even a mystery
    that your heart wasn't allowed to grasp

Last night I had a dream
    which seemed both real and true
Of a maimed creature gently gasping its screams
    that creature reminded me of you
A you afraid to trust
    again...your own desires
But the need to open up
    is a risk that life requires

Last night I had a dream
    that seemed both real and true
In it you pushed me to the extreme
    of my own heart loving you
A you rejecting my passion
    but wanting every degree of my hatred
And allowing your emotions to fashion
    this bond which makes us sacred

Last night I had a dream
    which seemed both real and true
But I know not what it meant
    till I came face to face with you
A you consumed by fears
    but reaching out to set me free
As the puddles beneath my feet made of tears
    showed that you...was really me.
134 Michael
The state wants to prove crime doesn't pay.
They won't let injustice stand in their way.
The have to convict someone of the crime.
They really care not if its your life or mine.
They do not worry if there is no evidence.
They just ask the "judge" for the trial to commence.
They can not afford to take any chances.
And around the court, the "D.A." prances.
The trial is not fair, everything is rigged.
The whole "justice" system, truly is jigged.
The judge reads the verdict, in just one breath.
I am found guilty and sentenced to death.

The State of Texas is being frill.
They've found out they have the "right" to kill.
I now sit and wait, here on death row.
I know late some night, my life could go.
I don't want the needle stuck in my arm.
I could never ever cause anyone harm.
Throughout the courts I put up a fight.
Cause I want to avoid that dreadful night.
Regardless of innocence,
I'm to be killed with vengeance.
So before I go
Down this dreadful road
I leave with you these few lines
For now, I have run out of time.




131 Michael
This place I am in, is made of steel and stone
And I feel so all alone.
Only I know the pain I suffer inside,
And the loneliness I feel, I cannot hide.

It's all a game, between the weak and strong.
And definitely a question of right and wrong.
Sometimes the good suffer with the bad.
All my friends tell of lost loves they've had.

I search my memory, and search it deep
And the good ones I have, I know I must keep.
For they are the ones that give me hope.
They give me the strength I need to cope.

Daily I face problems, but I take them in stride.
If anyone said it was easy, I promise you they lied.
There is nothing easy about being here,
Especially when your loved ones can't be near.

There are many days and nights I find no rest.
Often my pride is put to the test.
This other world, in which I dwell,
Can I be sure.....this isn't HELL?

Because, if there is a hell, worse than this,
I pray to God I am not on that list.
I've learned my lesson, I've learned it well.
I'm going to Heaven, cause I'm going through HELL!
132 Michael
Peer through my eyes,
    look past my fears,
Understand my cries,
    near steps that trace the tears
Streaming through my mind
    where thoughts are poured
But cannot find
    a face
Less of caste
    because of twine
And razorlines
    Crazed
my souls maze
    A broken heart has made its slave
scorned
    By voices
and lost choices
    Mourned
forever to be cherished
    As I perish
for being born.
    Struggling for sanity
I scream
    To master the madness
my life has restrained
    Where dreams create sadness
and bloodstained remains
    Of my friends
of my foes
    And of my soul in the end
marked for death
    Are my steps
so through deep breaths I must transcend
    From the flames
to plain
    Free from chains
and misplaced blame
    Where all my pain
will have no reign
    To be contained
by my brain

130 Michael
It's a Rose on Death Row

A stolen seed, lonely, planted in the blackest of dirt,
With no hope to grow,
Surrounded by weeds and St. Augestine grass to choke off any signs of life.
Faced with bleak cold days every day,
With only a few glimpses of sunshine to give some strength, the seed struggles to become.

But along comes a lil' rain, to shower down.
This seed.
Determination sets in.
So it drinks a drink called life.
The other seeds have given up hope.
They refuse to taste the true giver of freedom.
They'd rather be eaten by the birds,
Or choked by the wild grass instead of planting some roots and surviving.

Now this one small lonely seed has become the most breath-taking rose to behold.
It's beauty is beyond compare.
All because it hungered to be alive,
To give pleasure with it's fragrance and to add beauty and color to the world.

But only the most careful observer with a very
Keen eye can see this beautiful, rare, lovely, rose.
Because this rose is trapped in the
Midst of darkness, coldness, & cruelty,
Within the confines of...

128 Ker'sean
Stand up to Injustice
Stand up to injustice,
and let it be know,
You will not tolerate it,
even from the king on his throne,
Stand up to injustice
for black, brown and white
because you must realize
this is all around fight
Stand up to injustice
for you and for me
Cause one finger can be broken
but a fist cannot easily be
Fight this injustice
whether a woman or a man
Cause separated we fall
but united we stand
129 Michael

My future is gone like a flower in a storm

My past seems changed like a drop in the ocean

And now I am not sure if past and future matters

But I hope tomorrow will bring some happiness and fun

Or just a smile...

A smile for tomorrow.




127 Herminio
(A deep loneliness)

Early this morning, I awakened to this deep loneliness that welled up from inside of me...over taking me, from the deepest core of my being, such loneliness, filled with such despair, overwhelming me, sadness, enveloping me in its constructive grip, suffocating the very life out of me...

Anxiously, gasping for air, caught in its grip of panic, “Breath Herminio, BREATH HERMINIO!”, I heard a voice say, slowly realizing, that the sadness I felt was nothing new...but a feeling, that has always been ever present in my life...

Ever present...in my life. Only now am I reminded, that it would always be there.

Ever present, haunting me, in my life, on this road, path set out for me, my steps, taking me towards death, death, ever present, haunting me...caught in its constrictive grip, suffocating the very breath our of me...

A DEEP LONELINESS INSIDE OF ME...

126 Herminio
(Oct.5.2013)

All seemed very quiet last night as I went through my nightly ritual before I laid myself to sleep... doing a very quick workout to get my blood flowing through my veins, making my heart labor and work a bit, feeling better after a while.

After a few moments, setting my 5 gallon bucket under the sink, so I may fill it with hot water, and birdbath myself before going to bed.

The whole experience of washing myself, using scented soap and body wash gel, fills my cage with such a nice fresh scent, cleaning up the water from the floor before finally rolling out my mattress and putting down freshly washed sheets...

This whole week hasn´t been feeling right to me?! For some reason, all my dreams have been about both my grandmothers, as well as my father. All three have passed on...

Filled with certain memories of events of my childhood, nostalgia, immediately comes to me...

I´m a child up the mountain pass looking back, watching as my grandma is shooing me back and away!!!

The meaning very clear to me... I´m just standing there as I experience my dream world darken in despair, around me and my A´ma. As I watch her slowly fade away, swallowed by the darkness over taking my world!

I hear a whistle blowing as from a distance, so far away. Like sound being carried by the wind, agitated wind whips at me, the sound getting louder, until finally AWAKENING to the blowing of a panic whistle – issued to the prison guards – followed by the blaring of the emergency alarm!!

Sitting straight up in bed trying to make sense of this madness taking place around me!!

Running feet stop around, and below my cage, 4 stories down, and to left, on the first tier... Cage 1 east block 18... A cold body found hanging, a man who decided to end his suffering by taking his life...

Was this why I was shooed away?!? It´s very hard to speak of such things, and admit to myself that I´ve become so damn close to death – as the tendrils of death somehow retaining a hold on me...

A chill of dread passes over me, visibly shaking me to my core!!

I listened to the cold body with a loud thud hit the ground!! It sounded very sick, a solid thunk was heard... in the now deathly loud quietness, that sound echoes on and off these walls...

Followed by a silly laughter – by guards, or prisoner?!? Shit, I don´t know?!? – Disturbing all the same...

Ol´Tim Russel, just like that is gone!! Is gone, leaving all that he was behind...Allowing him to move on...

125 Heminio
(The Dreamer)

For as long as I could remember as a child, I´ve always needed to cover my entire head and body with the blankets in order to sleep...

I guess that the weight of the blankets offered me a sense of security as a child growing up...

And so as that 10-11 year old kid held inside that juvenile detention/prison facility, it was only natural for me to seek comfort for myself “ANYWAY” possible!?!

I was also blessed with a very vivid imagination that made itself available to me in a smooth but non-intrusive manner that it went unnoticed by the child held in that cage for the majority of each day...

With nothing to engage, stimulate, teach, nor distract my still developing young mind...

It was only natural that such conditions, circumstances, and situation would give rise to the strengthening (manifestation) of the psychological aspects of the mind had come to the protection of the child within me...

My imagination became the only company I had in those first few days, with the security offered by the blanket covering my entire body, the loudness of the children yelling, screaming, banging-kicking of doors throughout the whole of the day – from sun-up to sun-down – became hard to ignore...

I could block out the vision of that dirty cage, (by covering myself entirely), and somehow the child´s simple thinking to block out the noise was to verbalize out loud the narrative of my imaginings!!!

Without realizing it... I was changing the circumstances, and conditions of the immediate environment inside my cage... creating what ever a child like myself desired most!!!

Under these appalling, and fucked up experiences, and finally coming to terms with the damage I suffered and didn´t / couldn´t understand why I felt so out of place dealing with the reality of my world...

I became delusional!!! And a bit anti-social, while adopting certain criminal behaviors, reactionary to authority, losing faith, in my own parents ability to protect me. Sadly, this manifested into major insecurities and real (and imagined) fears within me!!

Like a perfect storm, with all these variables whirling, chaotically, uncontrollable, causing added confusion inside of me, creating and developing the “DREAMER” within to manifest, and strengthen...allowing for my imaginations to vividly come alive!!

While this may have kept me from sinking into loneliness, keeping me company (in a state of delusion) where I created the mother, father, and siblings that the child in me so passionately desired for, as well as the small world he knew at his age... and having fun with the many possibilities such illusions, delusions create... Yet it also damaged me severely...

It created “EXPECTATIONS” inside of me, and major “DISAPPOINTMENT”, because I somehow lost my mental ability to recognize reality from delusion...and cope with these insecurities and fears...

In that delusional state, going to court, and being give over to a very grateful mother, and being held by that warm hand encompassing my little one...

Still believing that illusion (I created in that cage of loneliness) accompanying me... And unsuspecting walking into my parents home...

Immediately feeling a hard hit upon my head, shocked and confused at this attack, I saw my mother pick up a large leather belt, fold it in half, grabbing me by my puny arm, in which to hold me by, and she began to whip me with that belt!!!

I remember vividly, that the PAIN I felt at that moment wasn´t from the belt!! (I did not feel the pain of that belt!!) which left trails, and welts upon me, my painful quiet tears, were from the emotional pain that cut me deeply...confused, and for the first time in my young life, (and without realizing it), heart broken with no way of understanding all these raw emotions...

These rose another aspect within me! Easily slipping into that comforting state of delusion, -looking back- Automatically an illusion that catered to all these insecurities and fears slowly came to be...

The “DREAMER” within me, easily began to encompass my entire being...affecting every aspect of my personality and function and even my behavior... that went unnoticed, even after many warning signs from behavior suddenly exploding and affecting the reality around me...

Similar to a drowning mans death struggle, loudly splashing and kicking to stay afloat, Herminio, the child was sliding under the surface of the delusion, sliding deeply under, under the murkiness of delusion...

Slipping away, unnoticed, loudly were these signs of this drowning, actions manifested that affected the reality of this world...As HERMINIO was put to sleep, locked away, safe inside me...

As “I” adopted, created and built up the persona “SPANKIO LOCO”, delusional, irrational, and fearful, it was painful to witness and watch as “I” chased after death, and death chased after me...

Lost under layers, and decades of illusions, and delusional rational... who could have imagined that the child HERMINIO´s cage door would suddenly come open?!? Allowing him to rouse on up, and out from the murky depths, rising from that self-created cage...

“AWAKENING TO FIND MYSELF, CONDEMNED AND TO BE EXECUTED ON SAN QUENTIN´s DEATH ROW!!”

124 Herminio
(Child´s play (1))
The sounds of bouncing balls outside the window, awakens the child inside the cage. Like some tiny animal, curious, the child rouses from the warmth, safety, and security, that the moth eaten woolen blanket provides.

Child´s play...

Braving the chilliness of this cage, I rise, quickly and committed!! Standing upon the concrete slab that has become his bed, covering my nose and mouth with my t-shirt, so I may peek out the ugly window.

Child´s play...

Hearing the voices of kids arguing lightly over the ball and who will shoot the basket next! Straining to peek over the windows bottom still, and the metal tightly woven mesh screen...

Child´s play...

Trying to catch a glimpse of the kids behing the voices!! A familiarity in tone and voice initiates a primal urge to commune, associate, and interact with these kids...

Child´s play...

Outside my cage, the shapes of kids running back and forth, pull at me enticing me, not 3 feet away from me, playing in a rectangle enclosed court yard, older kids imprisoned here (like me) were playing basket-ball. In the cold chilly morning, t-shirt less...Damn, it was cold!!

Child´s play...

I became just another shadow, behind a frosted window inside this cage.

Child´s play...

Or so I believed!! Casting a shadow behind this glass where none should have ever been...caught the attention of... Old experienced eyes on a kid, missing nothing, noticing me...sending another just outside my window.

Child´s play...

“What´s your name, and where are you from, holmes?”, the kid jams me from the start!! Recognizing the lingo, as one I´m familiar with!

Child´s play...

Spoken with a strong Mexican accent, as I catch a quick look at dark brown eyes looking at me!?! As he repeats the question in Spanish again?!

Child´s play...

“I´m SPANKIO from THE McLAUGHLIN AVENUE area!!” Why, and who is asking?!”, came my instant reply, by rote, I knew what was expected of me!!!

Child´s play...

Watching as the older kid walked away from me, towards the kid that had sent him in the first place...I watch intensively, trying to read the movement of their bodies and facial expressions, trying to see if they were friends, or foes!!

Child´s play...

Noticing the zigzag of scars and neighborhood tattoos, crisscrossing their bodies – now that I noticed – on several of the kids!! Recognizing some of those markings, while others were both described to me, by neighborhood kids around my AVENUE...

Child´s play...

Kids who looked a lot like the ones on my street... Dawning comes to the face of that one, as he makes his way towards my ugly window...

Child´s play...

“HERMINIO?!” “What the hell are you here for?!”, the kid asked, surprise in his voice!!! Looking at him a bit confused, not recognizing him!?!?

Child´s play...

Seeing my reaction he calms my confusion, “It´s me, Gary “Maton” Martinez!!” I ´m from McLAUGHLIN AVENUE too!!

Child´s play...

Maton means Killer in Spanish and is 5 years older than me, he is well known around the neighborhood and feared in others as well, like an avalanche all my frustrations came to the surface...

Child´s play...

Wanting to be strong in this 11 year old body, the threatening sting of tears made everything blurred, I heard my voice crack, as I tried to explain what I didn´t know about, just wanting to be able to speak to someone!!

Child´s play...

So preoccupied was I that I didn´t notice the door to my cage being opened... “Hey, fucken Kid!?!? What the fuck are you doing?!” A big scary man yelled at me!!

Child´s play...

Alarmed and frightened by the shock and loud tone of that voice, I quickly turned around to face this threat, not knowing how to respond...I FUCKEN HATED BEING SCARED!!

Child´s play...

In just my underwear, cold, with goose bumps covering my little body. One hand holding a t-shirt covering half my face, while the other held up the underwear, two sizes too big!! ANGER unexpected rises within me!!!

Child´s play...

Recalling the vision of the child Herminio looking so fucken scared!!! I must of been a sight!! First lesson learned, no longer needing anything to cover my face...

Child´s play...

Masking my face, in control, pushing down this fear threatening to render me immobile, I fight it internally causing me to unconsciously grin... or was I grimacing from the effort to contain this fear?!?!?

Child´s play...

I forget, and no longer know... All my emotions are in confusion, and I suspect are even dead, or hidden away – I´ve sometimes awakened with a tear soaked pillow, and tears still in my eyes with no idea of why?!?!?

Child´s play...

I WAS CONSTANTLY SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!

Child´s play...

Told to get dressed, handcuffed, and finally led out the cage, being escorted down this labyrinth of halls, as two grown men hold on to this tiny child arms...

Child´s play...

With my throat dried in fright, finally braving to speak, “Am I going to my house?”, I manage to speak, barely audible, even to my own ears...

Child´s play...

I´M THAT CHILD THAT BECAME LOST IN THIS...

Child´s play...

123 Heminio
(Three Weeks passed...)

... Distracted remains the mind in the effort to comfort me, taking me away from the daily torture of this hopeless reality I´ve awakened to... How could I´ve strived towards this end? How could I´ve wished for this painful existence? And not be effected by the every day desire to rest?!

Eternal is the rest I want with all the might of my being... I desire to sleep for eternity, and give rest to the flayed soul/spirit within me... I wish for the suffering to maintain my existence to be lifted, unburdened!

It must of been painful to watch me come to this end?! Powerless to stop me from the nature of my own animalistic primal urge to fulfill the base instant self gratification, uncaring, irresponsibility!

That must of been hell!! Even now I´m unable to understand why I´m still existing here today?! Who do I keep waking up? I´m an empty shell of living flesh kept alive in this cage with the bare footprint of existence.

“CONDEMNATION”!! Shouts loudly from deep inside the center of my being... Its echo reverberates off all the dark corner of my being...

Awakening in a roar, the defiant part of me rises, comes to be out of the darkness...wading through the murkiness swamp of all the corruption, and destruction that my existence has brought about...weighed down by the ever present awareness of my sins, not giving in to the heaviness...

Pushing back –into that same darkness- the hopelessness that threatens to over run me, the constance voice inside me sweetly attempting to loll me into laying down...”Come Herminio, come and rest with me.” Sounding invitingly and promises of never ending rest for my soul...

“FUCK YOU !!”, rings loudly in that quietness of my mind, as this defiant urge rushes through me, the heat of my anger burns hotly through me!!

Allowing that heat to center within the mind, seething the life giving blood in my entire body agitatedly boils through and through, causing me to feel all the pains of my existence...

Welcoming it all embracing life like a drowning man, not wanting to be snuffed out by the ever present ignorant, lolling voice confronting me at my weakest moment...when that desire to rest tramples me down to my knees...

Today again I´ve survived the onslaught of my being, awakened in this hell to suffer another day of this cold reality that is my existence...

THREE WEEKS HAVE COME TO PASS...

122 Herminio
The child awoke inside a concrete cage, locked in by a solid heavy wood door, with a small rectangle shaped shatter proof glass window…

A toilet, backed up, plugged up and foul... dirty sink... And a concrete raised slab for a bed.

A thick ¼ inch in diameter thick intertwined mesh screen covering the window...

Funny how as I think of it?! I couldn´t understand why the mesh screen was on the inside, and the frosted tempered glass was on the outside ?!...

That intertwined mesh screen might as well have been a solid metal slab... So tightly meshed together that even my little child fingers couldn’t fit between the opening!

Not that I would want to, after having a better look, and catching a whiff of the stench off that screen as a gust of wind passes by outside...

Urine, feces, spoiling food, spit, and dried up lugies painted over such a mess completed my cage...

Wanting to look outside to get my bearings of where I am, finally braving the stench, pressing within a inch of this foulness, covering my nose and mouth with my t-shirt, and taking a look outside!!

Recognition hits me hard!! I know this area!! I recognize the street... And this building holding this labyrinth of halls, deep in the bowels of hell... the caged child lost!

A built up sanitized illusion, this building is. Hiding and removing from sight all the unpleasant and undesired features, to make more acceptable what takes place. Outside appearance hiding the caged child inside.

The elite of the city law makers walking past out side, unaware, blind, or feinting ignorance at the occurrences hidden within?!?

I can´t help but to think now that my innocence is gone... How could they not know that they were creating a demon within me?!

If they would have been able to see me at that moment, standing in the mesh covered window I was learning my first lesson... How to cover and hide my face... to all that offends my senses!!!

120 Eugene
(NIGGER'S RESPONSE TO 
A BLACK MAN'S DEATH)
Pow!
Rifle bullet to the head
Pow!
Shot that King nigger dead
Pow!
White boy lurking somewhere's about
Pow!
Took that Evern nigger out
Pow!
Shotgun slug to the chest
Pow!
Laid Malcolm's ass to rest
Pow!
Fool as nigger shudda stayed quiet
Pow!
Didn't think justice could be denied
Pow!
Nigger dead now and cannot see
Pow!
That '44 is '63
Pow!
Things don't change in the U.S.A.
Pow!
Not for us Nigger, anyway 
121 Eugene
Roses are Red,
Violets are blue,
Yeah I know you have heard that line before
So I will not go there with you.
But I want you to know that
even though we recently met
I really like you and appreciate you too
We are from different upbringings and environments
I feel a real connection with you
someone I can talk too
and that’s really cool
I already consider you as a friend
and trust me I don’t use the words friend lightly
I’m confortable with you, I feel I can be myself with you and trust you
So yes you are my friend

118 Eugene
(IN YOU EYE'S)
Your heart light shines,
There're an humanitarian spirit,
A soul divine
Prefect in no way, And vulnerable I say
There's bleeding wounds,
From having dared loved
So courageous, you are,
Yet meek as a dove,
With skeletons in your closet.
As do all of the living,
Afraid to be discovered,
By the unforgiving,
Because people can be cruel,
When they don't understand,
They condemn off hand …
But trusting in me,
Your eyes confide,
Holding nothing,
Telling no lies,
Then suddenly I was startled,
At my own reflection,
Your eyes mirrored
My imperfection,
So who was I looking at?
Who did I really see?
Was it you?
Or was it me?
Or am I you?
And you are me?
119 Eugene
(Death Row)
The bars are blue and walls are white.
I set here in this cell with yet nothing else to do again tonight!
Red bricks and steel gray fence, - that all I can see when I look out the window … 
I hear of birds sing. a man laughter or even a scream.
Guard in gray some are black, come white, they are part of who took my freedom away. - this place I am at where grass nor flowers grow, a human slaughter house, - they call Death Row!
I've did some crimes, and I've did a few, But now they want to take my life for a crime I didn't do!
They call it justice, but they mean just us poor and there's quite a few Feeling helpless, come times hopeless too, -- I don't know what more to do - Wanting to cry at times evening wanting to die ...
Struggling to keep my sanity, desiring to be free! The State murdering us the poor and there quite a few
And they call it justice but they mean just us, -- poor and there's quite a few.
And there's nothing I can do!


116 Eugene
"GOOD BYE" 
Saying goodbye is never easy 
But moving on 
We all must do 
Going on with our lives 
Not just talking about it 
But seeing it through 
Move on, 
My love, 
Move on, 
And live, 
You have, 
Much more to give 
Now it's time I must go 
It's not easy to say good bye 
But it's time 
So I say good bye 
Know my love for you is true 
And as long as you live, 
My love will be with you
117 Eugene
You are my best friend
Because you feel so much
like home to me ….
That feeling that someone cares:
that feeling of welcome
that the sight of home
Always brings.
With you as my friend,
I can always know sunshine
more than my troubles.
You turn my sadness
That I can accept …
And when I'm feeling happy …
and wanting to share,
everything that is wonderful to me
You are there …. Ready to listen


113 Eugene
As I wake up naked laying beside you
I smile, kiss your cheek, 
remembering what we did last night
Remembering your kisses, caresses
The music of your moans
The passion we shared
You opened your eyes and begin to smile too
I know you were remembering last night too
114 Eugene
As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living.
Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects
The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
Life can only be understood backwards
But it must be lived forward
Persistence; take care to get what you like
Or you will be forced to like what you get
You gain strength, courage and confidence
By every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face
You are able to say to yourself,
“I lived through this horror, I can take the next thing that comes along.”
You must do the things you think you can not do

111 Eugene
The hills of life are steps to climb
When burdened with defeat
Broken hearted, broken dreams
Like shattered glass
Lay at my feet
I know you can´t have sunshine without the rain.
I try to climb this steep hill
No one feel my pain
My strength have faded
At times, I feel my hope is gone.
I can´t give up, I won´t accept defeat
I can´t give up, I´ll never quit.
112 Eugene
As a child I had no dreams
As a young man trying to figure out what to be
I ended up being sent to the penitentiary
Without no love and support
I struggled to make the best of life
But no one seemed to give me a chance
God knows I am telling the truth
How I ended up on Death Row
I have no cue
But I know I did not murder the person
A jury judged me guilty for
The justice system is a joke
And it damn sure don´t work
If you can afford a lawyer
You have a chance
But if you are broke
You are shit out of luck

109 Eugene
 I couldn´t see you today
So I sent you my thoughts!
Living and vibrant they speed through the air.
Out through the ether, through miles and through time.
I hope you received them and knew it was there!
 
I couldn´t see you today
So I sent you my love,
It travelled through space like a bright shooting star!
With the joy of the morning, the warmth of the sun,
To wrap itself around you, wherever you are.

I couldn´t see you today,
So I sent out a prayer,
For I knew you were troubled and heavy of heart,
And so with my thoughts and my love and my prayers
Though distance divides us, we´re never apart

Keep faith and hope within your heart
Though trials come your way,
We all must face them sometimes
It could be now, today.
Just do your best and carry on.
For what will be...will be...
And with friends to help you
You´ll stay on course, you´ll see!
110 Eugene

Being a good friend is really an art
It´s a wonderful talent that comes from the heart

It´s knowing the kind things to do and say
Like listening and talking a problem away

It´s laughing and sharing and being together
In bad times and glad times and in all kind of weather

Yes, being a friend is really an art.
It´s a talent that comes from a kind loving heart

107 Raphael
Look ! Look at this heart of mines
Pulsating with passion !
It pulsates with life, with love, with sincerity
Take it. Feel it. Hold it in your hand
It beats in the rhythm from our motherland
Created from the earth by God above
It pounds and beats with the purest love
108 Eugene
Have you walked in the shoes 
Of the person you judge, 
Have you shared their most 
Intimate thoughts, 
Have you known of the tears, 
The doubts and the fears, 
Or the battle that person 
Has fought? 
Have you shared in the secrets 
That lie in the heart, 
When they don't understand, 
They condemn off hand 
But trusting in me, 
Your eyes confide, 
Holding nothing, 
Telling no lies, 
Then suddenly I was startled, 
At my own reflection, 
Your eyes mirrored 
My imperfection, 
So, who was I looking at? 
Who did I really see? 
Was it you? 
Or was it me? 
Or am I you? 
And you are me ?




106 Richard
I am not giving up! 
I am fighting until the end, until there is no room to fight.
I am hurting inside, it´s tearing me apart, but I will not give up!
I am fighting until the end, until there is no room to fight.
All these years of suffering, I will not put to waste.
The pain I feel is real, I feel it everyday.
It bleeds inside of me, I shed tears for my loved ones.
I think of them and I hurt.
I hurt because they should not be feeling this way because of me.
I am the one who got sentenced to death, not them!
But Love, the REAL love, the UNCONDITIONAL love is what keeps us together!
If my loved ones want to hurt with me and die with me.
I will let them share this pain with me!
But I am not giving up.
I am fighting until the end, until there is no room to fight...
105 Frank
Behind prison walls, the convict prays for better days
Recalls his season in the sun when this life begun
Spring first spread his wings so much to be seen
Summer morn the rebel born between right and wrong he was torn
One autumn day he went away
Winter breeze upon his knee, God hear my plea
A torrent of time amass the years
Spring, summer, fall, winter, life´s final call
Beyond prison walls, freedom calls

104 Frank
Dreamt of a dark horizon, a storm upon the sea
Rains of sadness caress the waves
Winds of sorrow blow clouds of misery
Fountain claps of thunder pierce the air rolling with despair
Lighting strikes end the night
Awoke to a rising sun, a new day has begun, troubles on the run
Sadness, sorrow, misery, despair vanish in the air



103 Frank
Wayward son, you make your momma´s heart come undone
On your quest for the sun, always on the run
Wayward one, your heart´s so numb
Wayward son, momma´s always there, your burden she will bear
Wayward one, although momma´s hair is gray
She´ll always cherish the day your life begun
What a joy her baby boy
Wayward son, toys were so much fun with the gun
Use to play with balls, now you´re behind prison walls
Still she calls wayward son, not my only one
Wayward son, my favorite one
Till the end of time, you´ll be mine
Someday we´ll part, I´ll remain in your heart
Pray for a new start, apple of my eye
We´ll meet in the bye and bye
At Heaven´s gate, I´ll await
Wayward one, momma knows your fate
Wayward son, the fortunate one
For the joy to be her baby boy
Momma, you´re the one, love your wayward son

102 Lain
Where can one find true beauty
If one does not know where to look

How many fleeting second chances does each man need
How many broken hearts, promises, or hopes

At what break in the path, did we get so lost
When does “being a man” mean bring others down

Instead I plead for you to encourage
Find yourself in this beautiful prison of hope

Every moment my heart inches closer or farther away
Each choice is mine only to make

Where can one find faith
If one does not have a rock to stand on

How often must we seek help to stand back up
How many evil deeds, sins, or transgressions 

At what break in the path, did we get so lost
When does “being a man” mean not being faithful

Instead I plead for you to love with all your might
And find yourself in this beautiful prison of hope
101 Tavares FL
Lyrical vernacular of a forsaken populace begging to be heard serenade the power elite who deliberately ignore.
Why endure this hypocrisy disguised as a democracy when the reality is that no ruling class has ever given up it’s power to those it considers more enlightened.
Fringed between patriot and anarchist, I ponder the morality of this reality and ask myself if a person does in fact become neurotic because he cannot tolerate the amount of frustration which society imposes on him in the service of it’s cultural ideals.
In my dreams I am free from the rhetorical speeches of professional orators, and soar to a richly intertwined multidimensional labyrinth of a complex universe.
Forms in the abstract diverge in vein of the optic nerve and reveal a colorful display of a kaleidoscopic florescence.
But sleep is only temporary and reality awaits the moment I awake and again I am embraced with a hardcore honesty that inspires another poetic expression.
Desperate to overcome the circumstances of the here and now, I’ll continue to sing aloud - the song of the destitute !
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Inmates' Voices - Voix de détenus
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